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Dictoria  Ibtstor^  of  the 
Counties  of  Enolanfc 

EDITED  BY  WILLIAM  PAGE,  F.S.A. 


A     HISTORY     OF 
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

VOLUME    II 


THE 

VICTORIA  HISTORY 

OF  THE  COUNTIES 
OF  ENGLAND 


BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


LONDON 

ARCHIBALD    CONSTABLE 

AND    COMPANY    LIMITED 


This  History  is  issued  to  Subscribers  only 

By  Archibald  Constable  &  Company  Limited  and. 

printed  by  Eyre  &  Spottiswoode  Limited 

H.M.  Printers  of  London 


INSCRIBED 

TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

HER     LATE     MAJESTY 

QUEEN    VICTORIA 

WHO      GRACIOUSLY      GAVE 

THE       TITLE       TO       AND 

ACCEPTED      THE 

DEDICATION    OF 

THIS  HISTORY 


THE 

VICTORIA  HISTORY 

OF  THE  COUNTY  OF 

BUCKINGHAM 


EDITED    BY 

WILLIAM    PAGE,    F.S.A 


VOLUME    TWO 


LONDON 

ARCHIBALD   CONSTABLE 

AND    COMPANY    LIMITED 


1908 


DA 
670 

Bs  Ve 

v/,2 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    TWO 


PACI 

Dedication       ...............  v 

Contents           ...............  ix 

List  of  Illustrations  and  Map* .  xiii 

Editorial  Note           ..............  iv 

Romano-British  Buckinghamshire         .     By  Miss  S.  S.  SMITH,  Oxford  Honours  School  of  Eng- 
lish Literature      .......          i 

Ancient  Earthworks  .         .         .         .By  GEORGE  CLINCH,  F.S.A.  SCOT.,  F.G.S.    .         .         .21 

Social  and  Economic  History       .         .     By    Miss    C.    JAMISON,    Oxford    Honours    School    of 

Modern  History  .         .         .         .         .         .         -37 

Table  of  Population,  1801-1901      By  GEORGE  S.  MINCHIN 94 

Industries By    Miss   C.    JAMISON,    Oxford    Honours    School   of 

Modern  History 
Introduction     ......  .......      103 

Lace-making     ..............      106 

Wooden  Ware  and  Chair-making  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .109 

Paper-making    ...  1 1 1 

Tanning  and  Shoe-making            .  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          .112 

Straw-plaiting    .          .          .          .  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          •      1 1 3 

Bricks,  Tiles,  and  Pottery   .          .  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          -114 

Bell- Foundries  .         .         .         .  (By  ALFRED  HINEAGI  COCKS,  M.A.,  F.S  A.)          .         .116 

Iron-Foundries,  Shipbuilding,  and 

Railway  Works       ............          .126 

Needle-making -1*7 

Textile  Industries       ...........          .          .128 

Forestry By  the  REV.  J.  C   Cox,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.         .         .         .131 

Schools By  A.  F.  LEACH,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

Introduction      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         '.         .         -145 

Eton  College 147 

The  Royal  Latin  School,  Buck- 
ingham      207 

Royal    Grammar    School,    High 

Wycombe     .  210 

Stony  Stratford  Grammar  School          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          .212 

Amersham  Grammar  School        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .213 

Sir    William     Borlase's     School, 

Marlow         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .214 

Aylesbury  Grammar  School         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          .215 

Wycombe  Abbey  School     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .216 

The    County    High    School    for 

Girls,  High  Wycombe 217 

Wolverton  County  School  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         ...218 

Elementary      Schools       founded 

before  1 800 v     .         .         .         .218 

ix  i  •> 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    TWO 


Sport  Ancient  and  Modern         .         .     Edited  by  E.  D.  CUMING 

Foxhounds  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .223 

The  Old  Berkeley  Hunt  .  By  O.  P.  SEROCOLD 223 

The  Whaddon  Chase .  .  By  E.  D.  CUMING 227 

Stag  Hunting    ....  „  ........      228 

The  Royal  Buckhounds 228 

Lord      Rothschild's      Stag- 
hounds  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .228 

Earl     Carrington's     Blood- 
hounds .          .............      229 

Harriers.           .          .          .  By  E.  D.  CUMING    .......      229 

Beagles     .....  „              ........      230 

Otterhounds      ....  „              ........      230 

Coursing.          .          .          .  By  J.  W.  BOURNE     .......      230 

Racing     .          .          .          .          .  By  E.  D.  CUMING    .          .          .          .          .          .          .230 

Flat  Racing        .          .          .  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .230 

Steeplechasing    .          .          .  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .232 

Shooting  .          .          .          .          -By  COL.  ALFRED  GILBEV,  J.P.    .          .          .          .          -233 

Angling By  C.  H.  COOK,  M.A 236 

Cricket     .          .          .          .          -By  SIR  HOME  GORDON,  BART.    .....      239 

Golf By  A.  J.  ROBERTSON           ......     240 

Rowing  (Henley  Regatta)  .         .  By  THEODORE  A.  COOK,  M.A.,  F.S.A.          .         .         .     240 

Athletics  .         .         .         .  By  J.  E.  FOWLER-DIXON    .         .         .         .         .         .243 

Topography     .....     General   descriptions    and   manorial   descents    compiled 

under  the  superintendence  of  the  General  Editor  ; 
Architectural  descriptions  by  J.  MURRAY  KENDALL 
and  S.  F.  BECKE  LANE,  under  the  superintendence  of 
C.  R.  PEERS,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  ;  Heraldic  drawings  and 
blazon  by  the  REV.  E.  E.  DORLING,  M.A.;  Charities, 
from  information  supplied  by  J.  W.  OWSLEY,  I.S.O., 
late  Official  Trustee  of  Charitable  Funds 

The  Three  Hundreds  of  Aylesbury     General    descriptions    and    manorial    descents   by  Miss 
(Risborough,  Stone,  Aylesbury)          C.    JAMISON,   Oxford    Honours    School    of    Modern 

History 

Introduction       .............  245 

Risborough  Hundred 247 

Bledlow  with   Bledlow 

Ridge     .                                                  .                                                            .          .  247 

Horsenden  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          -253 

Monks  Risborough       ...........  256 

Princes  Risborough      ...........  26o 

Stone  Hundred  .............  367 

Cuddington .  267 

Dinton  with  Ford  and 

Upton    .          .                    271 

Haddenham        .  .  ...  ...  281 

Great  Hampden 2g7 

Little  Hampden  .  .          .  291 

x 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    TWO 

PACK 

Topography  (continueJ) 

The  Three  Hundreds  of  Aylesbury  (cmAnueif) 
Stone  Hundred  (cuitixueJ) 

Hartwell 293 

Great  Kimble •  298 

Little  Kimble 303 

Stone 307 

Aylesbury  Hundred 31* 

Alton  Clinton     .         . 312 

Bierton  (with  Broughton)      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .3x0 

Buckland    .         . •  327 

EIle»borough 331 

Halton 339 

Hulcott 342 

Lee  .                                                                                                                     .  345 

Great  Missenden          .     (By  Miss  M.  E.  SEEBOHU,  Hist.  Tripos)      .         .         .  347 

Little  Missenden          .     (                               „                                )       .                   .  354 

Stoke  Mandeville 360 

Weston  Turville 365 


XI 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACK 

High  Wycombe.     By  A.  R.  QUINTON  . Fnnt'ufiece 

Romano-British  Buckinghamshire  : — 

Little  Brickhill  :   Plan 5 

Castle  Thorpe  :  Armillae 6 

Crendon  :  Sarcophagus  containing  three  Urns         ........          7 

Great  Horwood  :  Silver  Spoon,  &c.      ......      full-page  plate,  facing         8 

Latimer  :   Plan  of  Roman  Villa    ...........          9 

Stone  :   Plan  showing  Sites  of  Roman  Remains        ........        IO 

„        Sections  of  a  Cavity  containing  Roman  Remains          .         .         .         .         .         .        1 1 

Tingewick  :   Plan  of  Roman  Foundations       .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .13 

„  Roman  Objects        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  14 

ft  »>  i»  ...........15 

Wycombe  :   Plan  of  Roman  Settlement  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .16 

„  „       Town,  showing  Roman  Sites    .         .         .         .          .         .         .         .17 

„  „       Roman  Villa          .         . .18 

Ancient  Earthworks  :  — 

Bow  Brickhill  :  '  Danesborough '  ..........       SI 

Cholesbury  Camp       .............        23 

Hedgerley :  Bulstrode  Park 25 

Monks  Risborough  :  Pulpit  Wood        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  2  5 

West  Wycombe          .............       26 

Castle  Thorpe 27 

High  Wycombe  :  Castle  Hill 28 

Little  Kimble  :  Cymbeline's  Mount     .          .         .          .         .         .         .         .          .         .28 

Typical  Examples  of  Homestead  Moats  in  Buckinghamshire    .         .         .         .         .         .31 

Great  Missendcn  :  Camp  in  Bray's  Wood     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          -33 

Industries  : — 

Inscriptions,  &c.,  on  Bells  ...........  120-4 

Topography  : — 

Bledlow  Church  :  Plan 250 

The  Tower  from  the  South      .         .          .  ) 
„  A  Capital  in  the  South  Arcade  of  the  Nave    \      '      ****  #*>***     *  5  • 

Monks  Risborough  Church  :  Plan         . 258 

„  „  „          Interior  looking  East  .         .         .      full-page  plate,  facing     258 

Princes  Risborough  :  The  Market  Place 261 

„  „  Church  Street 263 

„  „  Church  :  Window  in  South  Aisle  .  ) 

I     .  full-page  plate,  facmg     266 

„  „  Panelling  in  the  Manor  House       .  J 

Cuddington  Church  from  the  South-east        .........     268 

Plan .     269 

xiii 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Topography  (continued) 

Dinton  Hall  :  The  Staircase .272 

„       Upper  Waldridge     ............      273 

„       Church  :  South  Doorway  of  Nave 


„    ...  -,    .     ,        „  •  full-page  plate,  facing     278 

Cuddmgton  :  Tynngham  House  .          .  ) 

Haddenham  Church  from  the  South-east        .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .282 

Great  Hampden  ;  Hampden  House  :  The  I4th-Century  Doorway  .  ) 

™    \     TK    w       i     v      w  I    fM-page  plate,  facing     288 

„  Church  :  The  Nave  looking  West      .          .          .  J 

Little  Hampden  Church  :  The  North  Porch  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .292 

Hartwell  House  :  The  Entrance  Front          .........     293 

„  „          Entrance  Porch  on  North  Front  .  ) 

PTL   i«_         •  r     •  full-page  plate,  facing     294 

„  „         The  Tapestry  Room  .         .         .  ) 

„  »          Plan        ...  ......     295 

Great  Kimble  :   I  Jin-Century  Building  now  used  as  a  Barn     ......     298 

Stone  Church  :  Plan  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .310 

>,         „  North  Arcade  of  Nave          .....      full-page  plate,  facing     310 

Aston  Clinton  Church  :  The  Sedilia     .    ) 

Bierton  Church  :  Nave  looking  East     .   }    '  '     J&+V  t**,fi**g     3i« 

„  „          from  the  North        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .320 

»  „  Plan        ............      325 

Ellesborough  Church  :  Croke  Monument       ) 

Hulcott  Church:  South  Aisle  looking  West  }       '  '      fa»-P*t'  Placing     ^(> 

„       Stairs  of  the  Manor  House      ......      full-page  plate,  facing     342 

Little  Missenden  Church  from  the  South-east         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         -354 

„  „         The  Manor  House  from  the  Churchyard       .         .         .         .         .         -356 

„  „         Church  :  Plan  .         .         .          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         -358 

Great  Missenden  Church  :  Nave  looking  East          ") 

Stoke  Mandeville  Church  :  Interior  looking  East     j      '  '      fa1'^'  P^te,  facing     362 

Weston  Turville  Church  :  The  Font    .         .      ) 

„..._,.}•  .          .          .      full-page  plate,  facing     370 

„  „  „  Piscina  in  Chancel      J 

i,  ,,  „          from  the  South-east      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .371 


LIST    OF    MAPS 

Roman  Map     .                   ............  faf;a&  , 

Ancient  Earthworks  Map           .............  21 

Index  Map  to  the  Hundreds  of  Buckinghamshire  ........     „  245 

»             »      Three  Hundreds  of  Aylesbury  (Stone,  Risborough,  and  Aylesbury)         .         .  246 


xiv 


EDITORIAL  NOTE 

THE  Editor  wishes  to  express  his  indebtedness  to  Prof.  F. 
Haverfield,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  for  reading  the  proofs 
of  the  article  on  the  Romano-British  Remains  of  the 
county  ;  to  the  late  Mr.  I.  Chalkley  Gould,  F.S.A.,  for 
suggestions  regarding  the  article  on  Earthworks  ;  to 
Mr.  William  Crouch,  clerk  of  the  peace  of  the  county, 
and  Mr.  A.  J.  Clarke,  town  clerk  of  High  Wycombe, 
for  information  supplied  to  the  author  of  the  article  on 
the  Social  and  Economic  History  ;  to  the  Earl  Howe, 
G.C.V.O. ;  Mr.  G.  Laurence  Gommc,  F.S.A.  ;  Mr.  A. 
Heneage  Cocks,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  ;  Rev.  G.  Blamire  Brown, 
M.A. ;  Mr.  A.  E.  W.  Charsley  ;  Lieut.-Colonel  L.  E. 
Goodall,  D.L.,  J.P.  ;  Mr.  A.  Lasenby  Liberty,  D.L., 
J.P.  ;  and  Mr.  W.  Rose  for  information  as  to  the  history 
and  descent  of  manors,  and  to  Mr.  A.  Heneage  Cocks 
and  the  proprietors  of  the  Reliquary  for  illustrations. 


XV 


A     HISTORY    OF 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


KOMAN    MAP 

OF 

BUCKINGHAM 


o 


OXFORD 


Reference  HenleyonThan.es 

I      Villages  &.cA    denoting  permanent 
A     Villas    &.c:    J   civilized  occupation. 
4-      Burial. 

•     Miscellaneous  Finds  ;  not  generally  denoting  civilized  occupation.        WindsorJ 
-^  Roman    Roads. 
"  Doubtful  RofTv&n  Roads. 


ROMANO-BRITISH 
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


THE  county  of  Buckingham  partakes  of  the  essential  characteristics 
of  the  midland  counties,  and  shares  in  that  lack  of  striking  phy- 
sical features  which  especially  marks  this  part  of  England.  It  is 
traversed  by  no  great  rivers  or  high  hills,  the  Chilterns  consti- 
tuting its  highest  range,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  extreme  southern 
border  where  the  River  Thames  divides  the  county  from  Berkshire,  is 
unusually  artificial  in  the  position  of  its  boundaries.  Hence,  taken  as  an 
item  in  the  Roman  Province  of  Britain,  it  is  comparatively  unimportant.  It 
is  difficult  in  describing  its  Roman  remains  to  satisfy  the  demands  which  a 
county  history  necessarily  makes,  and  to  separate  the  county  district  from 
surrounding  areas,  or  to  evolve  any  history  of  these  remains.  Buckingham- 
shire constituted  in  Roman  times  a  small  district  in  that  part  of  Britain  which 
may  be  described  as  the  Lowlands.  The  greater  Roman  highways  for  the 
most  part  run  outside  the  county.  It  is  only  in  the  extreme  north-east  that 
one  of  these  traverses  it,  and  that  only  for  a  few  miles,  where  Watling  Street 
runs  through  Fenny  Stratford  and  Stony  Stratford.  As  a  natural  corollary 
to  this,  there  were  no  towns  of  any  importance  throughout  the  district, 
nothing,  in  fact,  larger  than  the  posting  station  at  Magiovintum  on  Watling 
Street.  The  Roman  remains  for  the  most  part  participate  in  the  undistin- 
guished character  of  the  physical  features  of  the  county,  and  there  is  very 
little  which  can  throw  light  on  the  character  and  customs  of  the  former 
inhabitants. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  isolated  sites,  at  Olney  in  the  extreme 
north,  at  Mentmore  in  the  east,  and  at  High  Wycombe,  Latimer,  and  Great 
Missenden  in  the  south,  these  remains  fall  into  lines  along  the  course  of  the 
roads  or  tracks  in  the  county. 

Thus,  we  have  those  near  to  the  course  of  Watling  Street,  at  Stony 
Stratford,  Shenley,  and  a  little  distance  from  it,  at  Haversham  and  Castle 
Thorpe.  There  is  another  rough  line  of  remains  along  the  modern  road 
passing  through  Buckingham  and  Fenny  Stratford,  consisting  of  those  at 
Buckingham,  Thornborough,  Whaddon  Chase,  Bletchley,  and  Fenny  Strat- 
ford, which  last  stands  on  Watling  Street. 

The  third  line  constitutes  the  Roman  branch-way  from  Alcester  to 
Magiovintum  and  passes  through  Bicester,  Steeple  Claydon,  and  Winslow, 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

terminating  at  Little  Brickhill  ;  and  the  last  line  follows  the  course  of  the 
British  way  which  runs  in  two  parallel  lines  known  as  the  Upper  and  Lower 
Icknield  Way. 

With  regard  to  these  remains  there  are  two  facts  to  be  specially 
noticed.  There  are  no  traces  of  military  occupation.  There  are  few  villas, 
and  these,  where  they  do  occur,  are  unimportant,  and  lie  away  from  the 
track  of  the  roads. 

The  villas  are  insignificant  in  character,  few  in  number,  and,  as  would 
be  expected  from  their  position  in  the  district,  show  no  signs  of  wealth  or 
luxury.  They  point  rather  to  habitation  by  a  poor  people  whose  occupation 
was  chiefly  pastoral,  as  would  be  expected  in  low-lying  lands.  The  traces  of 
any  local  industry  are  extremely  scanty,  consisting  simply  of  three  isolated 
relics — the  melting  crucible  and  compasses  at  Tingewick,  the  steelyard  weight 
at  Haversham,  and  the  kiln  at  Stone — and  these  indicate  the  satisfaction  of 
individual  needs  rather  than  the  establishment  of  any  general  industry. 
The  villa  at  High  Wycombe  and  the  burial,  apparently  that  of  a  woman,  at 
Weston  Turville  alone  raise  doubts  concerning  the  theory  as  to  the  poverty  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  district.  The  villa,  by  its  size,  and  the  burial,  in  the 
costly  character  of  some  of  the  relics,  point  to  wealth  possessed  by  the  owners 
of  two  individual  properties.  Probably  the  valley  of  High  Wycombe,  in 
which  the  villa  was  situated,  tended  to  the  production  at  least  of  agricultural 
wealth. 

The  one  great  exception  to  the  general  lack  of  individual  interest  or 
importance  is  the  pit  at  Stone.  This  is  quite  unusual  in  its  characteristics 
(vuk  Index).  The  orderly  nature  of  the  remains  found  within  it,  together 
with  the  shape  of  the  pit,  has  led  many  archaeologists  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  made  especially  for  purposes  of  sepulture,  and  was  not  merely  a 
rubbish  hole,  as  are  the  majority  of  the  somewhat  similar  pits  which  have 
now  and  again  been  described  as  sepulchral.  It  has  been  thought,  indeed, 
to  have  been  a  rough  columbarium,  resembling  in  its  general  attributes  those 
at  Rome.  It  is  compared  by  Akerman  l  with  the  pits  at  Ewell,  near  Epsom, 
and  others  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet. 


THE    ROADS 

Watling  Street. — Of  the  four  great  Roman  roads  mentioned  in  the  Itinerary 
of  Antoninus,  only  one  passes  through  Buckinghamshire.  This  is  given  in 
the  Itinerary  as  running  from  Luguvallium  (Carlisle)  ad  portum  Ritupis  (Rich- 
borough).  Of  this  road  the  part  between  Uriconium  (Wroxeter)  and  Rich- 
borough  is  generally  known  as  Watling  Street,  and  the  part  which  here 
concerns  us  is  that  small  portion  running  from  Durocobrivae  (Dunstable)  to 
Lactodurum  (Towcester),  across  a  part  of  Buckinghamshire  which  can  only 
be  called  its  north-eastern  protuberance.  The  Roman  character  of  this  road 
is  testified  with  much  certainty,  both  by  literary  and  archaeological  evidence. 
The  distances  given  in  the  Itinerary — from  Lactodurum  XII  m.p.m.,  from 
Magiovintum  XVII  m.p.m.,  from  Durocobrivae  XII  m.p.m. — coincide  with 
the  distances  between  the  modern  Towcester,  Little  Brickhill,  and  Dunstable. 

1  Arch,  rxxii,  451. 
2 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

For  once  antiquaries  are  in  agreement  as  to  its  course,  which  Lysons*  de- 
scribes in  the  following  passage  : — 

The  Waiting  Street  enters  the  county  with  the  modern  Irish  Road,  at  the  42nd  mile- 
stone, and  proceeds  perfectly  straight  through  Little  Brickhill,  Fenny  Stratford  and  Stony 
Stratford,  at  which  last  town  it  crosses  the  Ouse  into  Northamptonshire ;  all  traces  of  the 
Roman  causeway  are  of  course  obliterated  by  the  present  turnpike  road,  but  no  doubt  seems 
to  be  entertained  of  its  line,  whatever  difference  of  opinion  there  may  be  in  determining 
the  sites  of  the  Itinerary  stations  upon  it. 

Though  all  actual  traces  of  the  Roman  causeway  may  have  been  obliter- 
ated, there  exists  almost  certain  evidence  of  its  course,  in  the  straight  boundary 
line  between  the  parishes  which  lie  along  the  route  between  Little  Brickhill 
and  Stony  Stratford.  Moreover,  the  names  Stony  Stratford,  Fenny  Stratford, 
and  Old  Stratford  speak  of  a  Roman  origin.  The  archaeological  evidence  is 
further  strengthened  by  the  discovery  of  what  are  certainly  Roman  remains  at 
these  places  ;  of  foundations  in  the  Auld  Fields  near  Fenny  Stratford,  of  an 
:  urn  and  bust  of  Roman  workmanship  at  Little  Brickhill,  and  the  remains  of  a 
villa,  and  an  urn  containing  silver  plates,  etc.,  near  Stony  Stratford. 

But  though  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  course  of  Watling  Street 
through  the  county,  yet  there  has  been  much  dispute  with  regard  to  the 
position  of  the  Itinerary  stations  upon  it.  First  as  to  Lactodurum.  There 
can  be  little  real  doubt  that  the  modern  Towcester  is  built  upon  the  site  of 
this  Roman  station.  But  again  and  again  we  hear  that  Stony  Stratford  marks 
the  site,  and  Stukeley,  with  his  usual  ingenuity,  has  derived  the  name  Stony 
Stratford  from  '  Lactorodum,'  which  he  takes  as  the  name  of  the  Roman 
station. 

From  Lactodurum  we  pass  on  to  Magiovintum  and  Durocobrivae. 
With  regard  to  these  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Roman  stations  were 
at  or  near  the  modern  Fenny  Stratford  and  Dunstable,  respectively,  a  con- 
clusion which  has  been  well  worked  out  by  Akerman.8  Indeed,  it  is  only 
by  placing  the  sites  thus  that  the  distances  can  be  made  to  coincide  with  the 
distances  given  in  the  Itinerary.  As  to  the  precise  situation  of  Magiovintum, 
however,  many  surmises  have  been  raised,  and  Fenny  Stratford  and  Little 
Brickhill  have  run  the  gauntlet  of  antiquarian  opinion.  Fenny  Stratford 
has  usually  had  the  pre-eminence,  for  Leland,  alone,  of  the  antiquaries  before 
the  present  century,  places  Magiovintum  at  Little  Brickhill.  It  seems  now 
better  established,  however,  that  Magiovintum  should  be  placed  at  or  near 
Little  Brickhill,  and  that  the  site  near  Fenny  Stratford  has  less  probability. 

The  other  Roman,  or  possibly  Roman,  roads  are  four  in  number,  and  are 
for  the  most  part  merely  branch  roads. 

Road  from  Bicester  to  Towcester,  or  to  a  point  "within  some  little  distance  of  it.* — 
This  road,  starting  from  Alcester,  runs  north-east  and  south-west  between 
Fringford  and  Stratton  Audley,  through  Newton  Purcell,  and  enters  Buck- 
inghamshire a  little  to  the  north  of  Barton  Hartshorn. 

Here  it  becomes  coincident  with  the  north-west  boundary  of  the  county, 
proceeds  to  Little  Tingewick,  where  its  course  is  marked  by  a  villa  and  a 

'  M agna  Britannia,  i,  483.  '  Jrtb.  xxvii,  96. 

4  Dr.  Plot,  Nat.  Hist.  ofOxon.  x,  I  3  ;  Stukeley,  I  tin.  Curioium,  18,  21,  &c.  ;  Rec.  of  Bucks.  (Arch.  Soc.  of 

Bucks.),  iv,  154;  Burgess,  Raman  Roads  in  Bucks.;  Lytons,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iii,  483  ;  O.S.  xxvii,  NE.  SE., 
etc.  ;  f.C.H.  ttorthants.  i. 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

considerable  number  of  remains.  From  here  it  passes  to  Water  Stratford 
where  the  name  again  testifies  to  Roman  origin,  runs  near  Stowe,  leaves  the 
county  near  Lillingstone  Lovell  apparently  on  its  way  to  Towcester,  the 
Lactodurum  of  the  Romans,  where,  or  near  where,  it  joins  the  Watlmg 

Street. 

Road  from  Grandborough  to  Akeman  Street.* — Mr.  Haverfield  has  called 
attention  to  a  possible  road  which  would  probably  run  into  the  Akeman 
Street.  It  began  near  to  where  the  Claydon  brook  forks  close  to  the  Grand- 
borough  Road  Station  and  followed  probably  the  line  of  a  boundary  between 
the  parishes  of  Grandborough  and  Hogsham  to  the  place  where  the  roads 
from  Grandborough  village,  Grandborough  Road  Station,  and  Waddesdon 
meet.  It  thence  follows  the  road  to  Waddesdon  for  about  four  miles,  forming 
the  boundary  of  various  parishes. 

Akeman  Street. — This  road  runs  from  Alcester,  where  it  is  joined  by 
another  road  (also  called  Akeman  Street)  which  runs  from  Alcester  to  Ciren- 
cester.  There  are  branches  of  the  Akeman  Street  given  by  Stukeley  and 
Dr.  Plot,  but  little  probability  can  be  attached  to  these  branch  roads.  Akeman 
Street  proceeds  by  way  of  Waddesdon  into  Buckinghamshire,  running 
through  Aylesbury,6  where  Roman  coins  have  been  discovered.  There  it 
takes  a  straight  course  through  Aston  Clinton  and  leaves  the  county  west 
of  Tring. 

The  Icknield  Way. — It  is  fairly  certain  that  this  road  must  be  considered 
of  British  extraction.  In  its  general  character  it  is  quite  unlike  a  Roman 
road.7  Mr.  Haverfield  thinks  that  some  portion  of  it  was  employed  as  a  road 
by  the  Romans,  but  that  it  was  not  Roman  in  its  origin  (i-in.  O.S.  Bucks., 
237.  238). 

TOPOGRAPHICAL  INDEX 

ASTON  CLINTON. — A  Roman  amphora  was  discovered  in  the  spring  of  1871  on  the  Vetches  Farm. 
It  was  buried  on  its  side  in  the  large  field  immediately  opposite  the  farm-house,  about  2  ft. 
from  the  surface,  filled  with  burnt  wood  and  earth.  It  is  2  ft.  10  in.  in  height,  2  ft.  10  in.  in 
circumference,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  W.  L.  Lutton,  of  North  Church  [Rec.  of 
Bucks,  iv,  147  ;  Bucks.  25-in.  O.S.  xxxiv.].  Near  Aston  Hill  is  the  supposed  site  of  a 
Roman  or  British  encampment.  In  a  cottage  garden,  not  many  years  ago,  a  coin  of 
Vespasian  (A.D.  70-9)  and  one  of  Hadrian  (A. D.  117-38)  were  discovered.  They  are  now  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Fowler,  of  the  '  White  Hart,'  Aylesbury. 

AYLESBURY. — Roman  pottery,  spindles,  etc.,  were  dug  up  in  Granville  Street ;  they  are  now  ex- 
hibited in  the  museum  at  Aylesbury.  Silver  and  copper  coins  were  also  shown  in  the  Loan 
Exhibition  at  Buckingham,  1855  [Catalogue  in  Rec.  of  Bucks,  i]. 

BIERTON. — Part  of  a  large  urn  15  in.  in  diameter,  12  in.  in  depth,  said  to  be  Roman,  was  dis- 
covered here  3  ft.  from  the  surface.  It  was  imperfectly  burnt,  and  had  a  rude  attempt  at  orna- 
mentation. Human  remains  and  coins  were  found  in  a  field  to  the  west  of  the  Red  Lion  Inn 
[Rec.  of  Bucks,  iv,  224].  Human  remains  and  Roman  urns  were  also  found  in  a  garden  on  the 
east  side  of  a  road  to  the  east  of  the  Red  Lion  Inn  [25~in.  O.S.  xxviii,  2]. 

BLETCHLEY. — At  the  Dove  Cote  Farm,  on  the  Shenley  estate,  near  Bletchley,  portions  of  a  tessellated 
pavement,  bricks  and  other  indications  of  a  Roman  villa  were  discovered  by  Mr.  Grimwood 
[Haverfield,  '  Quarterly  Notes  on  Roman  Brit.'  Antlq.  xxxvii]. 

BRICKHILL,  LITTLE. — Near  Fenny  Stratford  in  the  parish  of  Little  Brickhill  a  small  intaglio  (ex- 
hibited by  Mr.  Byles,  of  Boxmoor  Station),  of  pale  cornelian,  of  oval  form  and  small  size, 

'  Bucks,  i -in.  O.S.  219,  237. 

6  Burgess,  'Roman  Roads  in  Bucks.'  ;  Rec.  of  Bucks.  (Bucks.  Arch.  Soc.),  iv,  154. 

'  For  discussion  as  to  the  name  vide  V.C.H.  Norf.  i,  287.  It  crosses  the  Wading  Street  at  Dunstable, 
enters  Buckinghamshire  a  little  to  the  north-west  of  Dagnall,  and  is  to  be  clearly  traced  as  far  as  Ivinghoe. 
Thence  to  Little  Kimble,  where  there  is  a  Roman  villa  and  other  remains,  its  course  can  only  be  conjectured, 
but  from  Little  Kimble  to  Bledlow,  where  it  leaves  the  county,  it  is  again  clear. 

4 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

engraved  with  a  figure  of  Jupiter,  his  right  hand  extended  and  his  left  holding  a  sceptre,  with 
an  eagle  at  his  feet,  was  found  with  an  early  bronze  fibula  made  in  one  piece,  and  a  plain 
armilla  [Proc.  Sac.  Antiq.  (Ser.  2),  ii,  60].  The  station  of  Magiovintum  has  been  placed  by  the 
concurrent  opinions  of  antiquaries  at  Fenny  Stratford  [Proc.  Sac.  Antiq.  i,  246  ;  otherwise,  Arch, 
xxvii,  96],  a  conclusion  which  Mr.  Pretty  of  Northampton  thinks  is  confirmed  by  the  dis- 
covery of  numerous  Roman  coins  and  other  remains  in  its  vicinity,  more  particularly  in  certain 
fields  adjoining  to  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  White  Hart  Inn  ;  chief  among  these  were 
the  figure  of  an  eagle  discovered  on  Little  Heath,  and  coins  of  Severus  Alexander  (A.D.  222- 
35)  ;  two  third  brass  of  Gordianus  Pius  (A.D.  238)  ;  Postumus  (A.D.  258-68) ;  Tetricus  (A.D. 
268-73);  Valens  (A.D.  364-78) ;  Claudius  Gothicus  (A.D.  268-70)  [Rtc.  of  Bucks,  v,  154  ;  MS. 
Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  xxv,  126.  Inf.  supplied  by  Mr.  W.  Bradbrook]  ;  also  a  bust  of  Roman 
workmanship  [Arch,  xxvii,  96].  '  At  Fenny  Stratford  in  a  place  called  the  Auld-Fields,'  says 
Lysons,  '  foundations  of  buildings  have  been  found  as  well  as  coins'  [Hist.  Bucks.  483].  The 
site  of  the  Roman  station  of  Magiovintum  has  been  placed  with  more  probability  at  Little 
Brickhill  on  the  Watling  Street,  a  short  distance  from  Fenny  Stratford. 

BRILL. — Roman  coins  were  discovered  14  December  1758  [MS.  Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  viii,  98]. 
There  is  a  square  entrenchment  described  as  a  '  Roman  Camp  '  on  Muswell  Hill  [Bucks. 
6-in.  O.S.  xxvi,  SE.].  Camden  [Brit,  ii,  330  (ed.  Gough,  1722)]  mentions  Cold  Harbour 


fford 


8     6 


PLAN  or  LITTLE  BRICKHILL 

Farm,  north-east  of  Brill,  as  the  site  of  a  Roman  town,  and  he  is  quoted  to  this  effect  by 
Stukeley,  but  there  seems  no  evidence  to  warrant  such  a  statement,  and  the  name  does  not 
necessarily  imply  a  Roman  connexion  [Bucks,  i-in.  O.S.  237]. 

BUCKINGHAM. — Many  Roman  coins  have  been  dug  up  in  the  vicinity  of  Buckingham  ;  a  coin  of 
Antoninus  (A.D.  138-61)  in  1819  [Lipscomb,  Bucks,  ii,  547],  and  in  1741  a  copper  coin  of 
Carausius  (A.D.  287-93)  [MS.  Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  iv,  56].  Pottery,  coins,  implements  and 
ornaments  from  Grove  Hill  Farm,  discovered  in  1875,  were  also  exhibited  at  the  Loan 
Exhibition,  Aylesbury,  July  1905,  by  Mr.  T.  Gardner  [Catalogue  of  Loan  Exhibition]. 

CADMORB  END. — In  1877  five  Roman  coins  were  discovered  here,  of  Titus  (A.D.  79-81),  Domitian 
(A.D.  81-96),  Trajan  (A.D.  98-117),  Hadrian  (A.D.  117-38),  Faustina  (A.D.  138-41),  re- 
spectively. They  were  exhibited  in  the  Loan  Exhibition  at  Aylesbury  1905,  by  the  Rev.  R. 
Bruce  Dickson  of  Stewkley  [Catalogue  of  Loan  Exhibition]. 

CASTLE  THORPE. — In  a  field  called  Burtles  Hill  was  found  a  small  black  urn  containing  a  pair  of 
armillae  and  a  silver  ring,  with  twenty  silver  and  about  twenty-five  large  brass  coins  of  the 
Upper  Empire,  ranging  from  Nero  (A.D.  54-68)  to  Verus  (A.D.  166-70),  one  being  a  coin  of 
Antoninus  Pius  (A.D.  138-61)  with  Britannia  reverse.  The  coins  are  now  in  the  possession  of 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Mr.  F.  H.  Hughes  [Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  Journ.  ii,  352-3  ;  Num.  Chron.  vii,  pi.  iv.]  Bracelets 
of  the  pattern  illustrated  have  been  found  more  than  once  in  England,  and  can  be  dated  with 
precision.  They  are  of  base  silver,  with  the  terminals  slightly  expanded  to  represent  serpents 
heads,  and  the  hoop  engraved  with  geometrical  designs.  The  serpents'  heads  may  have  had 
som;  religious  significance  [cf.  gold  specimen  from  Backworth,  Northumberland,  Arch.  Journ. 

viii,  39].  They  were  originally  in  the 
Bateman  Collection,  Lomberdale  House, 
Derbyshire,  but  are  now  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum.  Similar  bracelets  have 
been  found  near  Carlswark,  Derbyshire 
[Jewitt,  Reliq.  viii,  113],  at  Ham 
Saltings,  Upchurch,  Kent,  now  in  the 
British  Museum  with  part  of  another 
from  Coldham  Common,  Cambs.  [Payne, 
Collectanea  Cantiana,  74].  The  ring 
which  is  set  with  a  cornelian  intaglio  is 
of  a  type  common  about  A.D.  200 
[Journ.  Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  ii,  35  ;  Bate- 
man Coll.,  Lomberdale  House,  Catalogue, 
130-1  ;  Reliq.  xiii,  pi.  xviii].  Though 
a  skull  and  pottery  fragments  were  later 
ARMILLAE  FROM  CASTLE  THORPE  found  on  the  site,  this  deposit  of  about 

A.D.  1 70  was  evidently  a  hoard  un- 
connected with  any  burial.  Mr.  Pretty  of  Northampton,  who  recorded  the  find,  added  that 
there  was  probably  a  villa  at  Calverton  End  near  Castle  Thorpe,  a  fact  which  he  deduced  from 
the  discovery  of  pottery  there.  Professor  Haverfield,  however,  considers  that  this  is  inconclu- 
sive. Mr.  Pretty's  additional  note  on  the  subject  of  the  Portway  Lane  in  Castle  Thorpe 
drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  name  Port  does  not  imply  a  Roman  origin. 

COLNBROOK. — Camden  [Brit.  327  (ed.  Gough,  1722)]  wrongly  identifies  Colnbrook  with  the 
Ponies  of  Antoninus,  because  it  is  at  equal  distance  on  both  sides  from  Wallingford  and 
London,  and  here  the  Coin  is  divided  into  four  channels,  which,  for  the  convenience  of 
travellers,  have  as  many  bridges  over  them  [Reynolds,  Iter.  Brit.  (1848),  340]. 
CRENDON  or  LONG  CRENDON. — In  the  year  1824  labourers,  digging  in  a  field  at  the  north  side  of 
the  church  near  a  road  named  the  Angle  Way,  found  the  remains  of  a  cemetery  near  the 
supposed  site  of  the  castle  of  the  Giffards.  The  field  which  contained  these  remains  is  of  stone 
brash,  in  which  each  of  the  urns  discovered  was  embedded  separately.  The  principal  objects 
found  were  an  urn  described  as  of  blue  clay,  unglazed  ;  a  small  portion  of  another  urn,  of 
large  size,  3  ft.  in  height,  diameter  at  brim  6  in.,  with  handles  5  in.  in  circumference,  joined 
to  the  neck  and  body  of  the  vessel,  which  was  of  coarse  yellowish  ware,  with  a  reddish  tint. 
It  was  quite  plain,  had  the  marks  of  the  lathe  perfect,  and  appeared  to  have  been  coated  with 
varnish.  Besides  ashes  and  burnt  bones,  including  those  of  birds,  there  were  also  found  seven 
rings  of  brass,  so  much  decayed  that  the  stones  set  in  most  of  them  were  corroded  and  de- 
stroyed. Two  of  these  had  portions  of  wire  attached  to  them  and  might  have  been  ear 
pendants.  There  were  also  found  a  number  of  small  urns  ;  eight  paterae  of  Samian  ware,  each 
6J  in.  in  diameter,  i£  in.  deep,  having  a  small  rim  ;  one  stamped  OF.  L.  Q.  VIRIL.  ;  a  small 
incense  pot  of  the  same  fabric  formed  in  two  half  circles,  the  larger  above  the  smaller,  and, 
intersecting  it,  with  a  circular  stamp  or  cipher  at  the  bottom  ;  a  lamp  quite  perfect  and  of 
the  same  ware  ;  a  small  sarcophagus  containing  three  small  urns  all  perfect  [Lipscomb,  Bucks. 
i,  212  ;  C.  R.  Smith,  Coll.  Antiq.  iv,  155  ;  Letter  from  G.  Lipscomb,  Gent.  Mag.  (1831)]. 
There  was  also  found  at  a  later  date  near  the  site  of  the  former  discoveries  a  pot  of  small 
Roman  coins,  some  of  Claudius  (A.D.  41-54).  The  greater  number  were  much  corroded.  It 
is  probable  that  this  group  of  remains  is  of  Roman  date,  but  a  further  note  of  Lipscomb 
points  to  the  fact  that  a  Saxon  interment  was  made  on  the  site  of  the  Roman  one,  as  some  of 
the  remains  which  he  indicates  could  not  have  been  Roman.  He  adds:  '  Many  skeletons 
were  found  regularly  interred,  and  near  them  abundant  and  satisfactory  indications  of  crema- 
tion and  urn  burial  ;  great  quantities  of  ashes,  scoriae  and  semi-vitrified  masses,  together  with 
vast  numbers  of  fragments  of  urns  and  other  vessels,  bones  of  large  quadrupeds  and  of  birds 
promiscuously  intermingled.' 
ELLESBOROUGH. — Foundations  of  buildings  [Lysons,  Bucks.  483]  and  Roman  coins  have  been  found 

here  [Lipscomb,  Bucks,  ii,   171.     Vide  Little  Kimble]. 

ETON. — A  Roman  vase  was  discovered  in  1863-4,  507  yds.  north  of  Barnes  Pool  Bridge,  a  little  to 
the  west  of  the  main  road  from  Windsor  to  Slough.     A  Roman  urn,  21   in.  high,  and  the  same 

6 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

in  extreme  diameter  was  discovered    in    1890   about    18    in.    below   the  surface  of  a  field  at 

Willowbrook,    a    little    to    the    north    of    Eton    on    the    way    to    Slough    flnf    from    Mr 

R.  P.  L.  Booker,  M.A.,  F.S.A.]. 
FOSCOTT. — The  following  remains  from  a  supposed  Roman  villa  at   Foscott  were  exhibited  at  the 

Loan  Exhibition  at  Buckingham  in   1855,  by  the  Rev.  W.  Lloyd  of  Lillingstone.     Hypocaust 

tiles,  bone  spoons,  pin,  part  of  bone  pipe,  a  bronze  socket,  glass  and  pottery  fragments,  a  piece 

of  oak  pile,  and  some  glass,  also  fragments  of  tessellated  pavement  [Catalogue  of  Exhibition, 

Rec.  of  Bucks,  i]. 
HAVERSHAM. — A  Roman  steelyard  weight  in  form  of  a  woman's  head  was  ploughed  up  in  the  parish 

of  Haversham   near    Newport    Pagnell  [Bucks.  N.   and    Q.  (1901),    228;    Proc.  Soc.  Antiq. 

(Ser.  2),  v,  13].     Roman 

coins  have  also  been  found 

here,    one    a    first    brass 

of  Marcus  Aurelius  (A.D. 

l6l-8o)     [Journ.     Brit. 

Arch.  Assoc.  ii,  355].    Mr. 

Pretty    of  Northampton, 

who  notes  the  discovery 

of  the  coins,  adds  that  it 

is  a  significant  fact    that 

the    coins    found  on   the 

Buckingham   side  of  the 

River  Tove,  among  which 

those   at    Haversham  are 

included,  are  generally  of 

earlier    date    than    those 

discovered    at    Cosgrove, 

Old  Stratford,  and  Paulers- 

pury. 
HEDSOR. — The  remains  of  pile 

dwellings  were  discovered 

here  in  1894,  but  the  ob- 
jects accompanying  then1, 

e.g.  spear  heads  and  the 

bones   of  animals,    point 

to    a   prc-Roman    origin 

[Journ    Brit.  Arch.  Assoc. 

(Ser.  2),  v,  267].     Simi- 
lar   dwellings   have    been 

found    at    Cookham    in 

Berkshire,  which  is  near 

Hedsor  ]f.C.H.  Berks,  i, 

198,  205]. 

HITCH  AM. — A  Roman  key,  to- 
gether with  Roman  coins, 

was  found  near  the  pre- 
sent   Bath    road    \Journ. 

Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  xxxiii, 

206  ;   xlix,  176]. 
HORWOOD,  GREAT,  AND  WINS- 
LOW. — A  silver  drinking- 

cup  of  late  Roman  work, 

of  a  common  form  in  pot- 


tery, 


but    uncommon   in 


silver,  height  4*  in.,  great-  SAICOPHACU.  CONTA.N.NG  TH«.  URN,  AT  CWNDON 

est    width     2^    in.,    was 

turned  up  in  a  field  and  broken  by  the  ploughshare,  so  that  the  fracture  revealed  other 
objects,  some  of  which  had  been  bent  in  order  to  put  them  into  the  cup  :  two  silver 
spoons,  very  much  bent,  having  oval  bowls  decorated  with  a  kind  of  ribbed  or  feathery 
pattern  ;  one  had  the  inscription  VENERIA  VIVAS  (compare  with  this  a  sepulchral  inscription 
to  Lady  Veneria  in  the  Museum  at  Caerleon).  Altogether  five  spoons  were  found  on  this 
occasion,  and  a  small  pin  2$  in.  long,  with  a  flat  circular  head,  closely  resembling  other 

7 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Roman  pins  in  bronze  ;  a  small  fibula,  showing  signs  of  wear,  the  type  of  which  is  rare 
in  England  ;  also  a  silver  ring  with  octagonal  exterior  and  a  blank  facet  \_Rec.  of  Bucks,  iv, 
209  ;  Arch.  Journ.  xxxiii,  357]. 

HUGHENDEN. — In  1826  an  urn  containing  four  small  silver  coins  and  three  copper  ones  was  turned 
up  in  a  field  near  Hazlemere  turnpike-gate  ;  near  this  deposit  was  an  arch  of  flints,  supported 
by  two  side  walls,  about  the  size  of  a  common  grave,  not  more  than  3  ft.  long.  About  it  were 
several  broken  Roman  tiles,  pieces  of  urns,  fragments  of  unburnt  pottery  and  of  what  appeared 
to  be  part  of  a  quern  [Lipscomb,  Hist.  Bucks,  iii,  583].  It  has  been  suggested  that  this  was  a 
Roman  burying-place,  but  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  for  such  a  conclusion.  Yet  the 
remains  are  not  entirely  Roman  in  character,  for  a  battle-axe  was  also  discovered,  which  points 
to  a  deposit,  perhaps  a  later  one,  of  Saxon  origin.  A  vase,  probably  Roman,  was  also  dis- 
covered in  the  excavations  at  Hughenden  Vicarage,  1883.  This  was  exhibited  at  the  Loan 
Exhibition  at  Aylesbury,  1905  [Catalogue  of  Loan  Exhibition]. 

KIMBLE,  GREAT. — Great  Kimble  stands  on  the  higher  track  known  as  the  Upper  Icknield  Way, 
to  which  should  probably  be  assigned  a  British  origin,  though  it  is  possible  that  the  road  was 
here  used  by  the  Romans.  The  following  remains  were  found  in  a  barrow  and  are  very 
probably  British,  although  described  as  Romano-British  [Proc.  Sac.  Antiq.  (Ser.  2),  xii,  340]  : 
two  urns,  the  larger  of  the  two  in  an  inverted  position  with  the  smaller  one  resting  on  its 
shoulder,  17  in.  in  height,  containing  white  powder  and  a  small  perforated  vessel,  which  was 
possibly  an  incense  cup,  these  were  buried  in  a  shallow  grave  in  the  chalk.  The  lower  part 
of  the  grave  was  covered  with  black  ashes.  Lipscomb  [Hist.  Bucks,  ii,  341]  also  speaks  of  a 
square  camp  commanding  the  track  of  the  Icknield  Way,  on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  south  of  the 
church,  at  the  north-west  corner  of  Pulpit  Wood. 

KIMBLE,  LITTLE. — The  remains  possibly  of  a  Roman  villa  were  discovered  here.  Fragments  of  a 
small  tessellated  pavement  were  found  near  the  turnpike  road,  laid  in  mortar,  measuring  4  ft.  by 
3  ft.  Foundations  of  flint  were  discovered  at  the  same  time,  and  in  the  adjoining  fields  near  Great 
Kimble,  Roman  tiles  and  coins  have  been  occasionally  found,  and  buckles,  rings,  tiles,  tesserae, 
and  painted  plaster,  fragments  of  which  were  exhibited  at  the  Loan  Exhibition  at  Buckingham, 
1855  \_Rec.  of  Bucks,  i,  39;  Ibid.  'Catalogue  of  Exhibition'].  The  three  sites  of  Great 
Kimble,  Little  Kimble,  and  Ellesborough  are  in  such  close  proximity  that  it  is  possible  the 
three  together  formed  one  settlement. 

LATIMER. — A  little  to  the  south-west  of  Latimer,  which  is  situated  on  the  road  from  Chenies  to 
Chesham,  is  Dell  Farm,  shut  in  on  two  sides  by  Lane  Wood  and  West  Wood.  On  this 
spot  there  is  a  slightly-elevated  mound,  in  which  Roman  tesserae  were  discovered  in  1 834  by 
workmen  who  were  employed  in  diverting  the  road  here,  which  originally  ran  between  the  farm- 
house and  the  river.  A  few  yards  to  the  north-west  were  four  human  skeletons  with  coins 
and  fragments  of  earthen  vessels  deposited  near  them,  which  were  taken  away  by  a  stranger. 
The  following  account  of  later  discoveries  is  given  by  the  Rev.  Bryant  Burgess  \_Rec.  of  Bucks. 
iii,  no.  5,  pp.  181-5].  '^n  ^63  numerous  tesserae  of  various  sizes,  pieces  of  tile  and  mortar, 
with  the  peculiar  pink  tinge  which  is  characteristic  of  Roman  manufacture,  were  found  lying 
by  the  side  of  the  road  where  it  was  cut  thrpugh  the  mound,  and  at  three  inches  below  the 
level  of  the  road  a  tessellated  pavement  of  coarse  red  ware.' 

Excavations  were  made  in  1864  and  are  described  by  Mr.  Bryant  Burgess.  From  his 
description  it  appears  that  a  portion  of  a  villa  of  the  corridor  type  was  disclosed,  comprising  a 
range  of  rooms  with  a  corridor  on  the  north-west  8  ft.  6  in.  wide  (3,  5  on  plan).  The  corridor 
was  divided  by  a  wall  and  doorway,  to  the  south-west  of  which  it  ran  for  34  ft.  and  was  paved 
with  flat  tiles  16  in.  by  12  in.,  and  to  the  north-east  it  was  traced  for  39  ft.  and  was  paved  with 
red  tesserae.  There  was  probably  a  corridor  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  range  of  rooms,  as 
fragments  of  a  tessellated  floor  were  discovered  at  ay  a,  a,  on  plan.  Room  i  (see  plan) 
measured  19  ft.  6  in.  by  22  ft.  ;  the  tesserae  in  the  room  were  I J  in.  square.  The  walls  were 
plastered,  and  the  part  remaining  was  coloured  a  dull  red,  but  pieces  of  plaster  were  found  in 
the  room  painted  white  with  a  red  or  green  stripe,  and  some  of  three  different  colours.  The  floor 
here,  as  in  the  other  rooms,  was  covered  with  a  black  powder  of  decayed  wood,  with  which  iron 
nails  from  i^  in.  to  5  in.  in  length  were  intermingled  ;  above  this  was  a  mass  of  broken  ridge 
and  flanged  tiles,  together  with  large  flints  and  mortar,  evidently  the  remains  of  the  rafters  and 
roof-tiles.  These  would  perhaps  point  to  the  villa  having  fallen  to  decay  and  not  having 
been  destroyed.  Room  2,  which  was  19  ft.  6  in.  in  length  by  9  ft.  3  in.  in  breadth,  com- 
municated with  room  i  by  a  doorway  5  ft.  wide,  and  also  by  another  doorway  to  room  4. 
Possibly  it  was  a  vestibule,  as  it  had  a  doorway  6  ft.  wide  through  the  north-east  wall.  The 
floor  was  of  concrete.  Room  4  was  19  ft.  6  in.  by  12  ft.  It  was  paved  with  red  tesserae,  and 
contained  a  considerable  quantity  of  broken  pottery  and  charred  wood.  Upon  the  south-west 
wall  were  the  remains  of  colour.  Rooms  6  and  10  were  only  partially  traced.  A  few  tesserae 


SILVER  SPOONS,  ETC.   FROM   GREAT  HORWOOD 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

were  found  in  one  corner  of  each,  but  the  ground  had  been  lowered  at  a  previous  date  and  the 
floor  destroyed.  Room  No.  7  formed  a  passage  5  ft.  5  in.  wide,  with  a  step  at  the  entrance  to 
the  north-west  corridor.  It  was  paved  with  red  tesserae.  Room  8  was  19  ft.  6  in.  by  1 8  ft.  9  in. 
The  wall  on  the  south-east  was  scarcely  traceable,  but  the  other  walls  were  in  good  condition 
to  the  height  of  i8in.  The  pavement,  the  middle  of  which  was  destroyed,  was  of  white 
tesserae  for  a  width  of  27  in.  from  the  wall  ;  the  interior,  so  far  as  it  remained,  had  the  usual 
red  pavement,  but  in  the  three  corners  it  was  continued  for  some  inches  into  the  border. 
Room  9  measured  19  ft.  6  in.  by  12  ft.  9  in.  ;  the  tesserae  of  the  pavement  were  mostly  red, 
with  a  few  white,  yellow,  and  black,  which  in  some  cases  adhered  together  in  an  orna- 
mental pattern  as  they  had  been  laid.  Room  1 1  was  probably  a  passage.  Another  range  of 
buildings  extended  to  the  north-west  of  room  5,  and  at  f  there  was  a  mass  of  rubble  wall  with  tile 
courses,  which  was  traced  to  a  depth  of  4  ft.  Here  a  number  of  small  bones  of  a  cat  or  rabbit 
were  found.  The  following  articles  were  found  in  the  villa  : — Two  brass  coins  of  Constantino 
the  Great  (A.D.  306-37)  ;  a  brazen  or  copper  coin  of  Tetricus  (A.D.  268-73)  ;  a  small  British 
coin  of  brass,  possibly  of  the  age  of  Tetricus  ;  a  pin  of  ivory  or  very  hard  bone,  carved,  in 
perfect  preservation,  except  the  point,  measuring  3-^5  in.  ;  another  pin,  of  darker  colour,  and 
finer  workmanship,  imperfect  ;  a  great  deal  of  broken  pottery,  with  a  few  pieces  of  Castor 
and  Samian  ware ;  a  piece  of  stag's  horn  ;  oyster  shells  and  whelks,  the  former  in  considerable 


PLAN  OF  ROMAN  VILLA  DISCOVERED  AT  LATIMEK.     Scale  20  ft.  to  I  in. 


quantities  ;  pointed  pieces  of  iron,  "]\  in.  and  \\  in.  in  length  ;  pieces  of  lead  and  a  large 
quantity  of  iron  nails  ;  a  small  piece  of  a  glass  vessel  and  fragments  of  window-glass  ;  flue-tiles, 
mostly  broken,  measuring  15^  in.  by  i6Jin.  by  4^  in.,  one  nearly  perfect,  ornamented  on  two 
sides  with  a  pattern,  the  rest  merely  scored  on  the  wider  side  with  a  comb  ;  flanged  roof-tiles, 
measuring  16  in.  by  12  in.  at  the  broader  and  lojin.  at  the  narrower  end,  but  the  measure- 
ments vary  considerably  in  different  tiles  ;  these,  together  with  ridge-tiles  measuring  about 
15  in.  by  7^  in.  by  i£  in.  were  found  mostly  in  a  broken  state,  overlying  the  pavements  in  all 
parts  of  the  building  [Rec.  of  Bucks,  iii  (5),  181,  et  seq.]. 

LEE. — Roman  remains  from  Bray's  Wood,  near  Lee,  were  exhibited  at  the  Loan  Exhibition 
at  Buckingham,  July  1855.  There  is  a  square  entrenchment  at  Bray's  Wood  [Bucks.  6-in. 
O.S.  xxxviii,  NE.  ;  Rec.  of  Bucks,  vi,  297  ;  Lipscomb,  Bucks,  ii,  359]. 

MARLOW. — On  4  May  1780  two  small  bronze  human  figures,  supposed  to  be  of  women,  were 
found  near  Marlow  [MS.  Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  xvii,  37].  In  February  1779  a  bronze  Roman 
fibula  was  also  found  near  here  [MS.  Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  xvi,  213]. 

MENTMORE. — Remains  were  discovered  here  which  possibly  indicate  a  Saxon  interment  on  a  Roman 
site,  though  the  coins,  which  are  the  only  indication  of  a  Roman  origin,  may  have  accompanied 
the  Saxon  burial  [Prac.  Soc.  Antiq.  iii,  72].  In  1852  there  were  found  a  spear -head  (obviously 
a  Saxon  relic),  a  bronze  clasp,  a  coin  of  Constans  or  Constantius,  several  bones  of  animals, 
and  Roman  coins  [Bucks.  6-in.  O.S.  xxiv,  SE.].  At  a  date  previous  to  this  a  cup-shaped 
fibula  and  an  '  ornament  probably  from  a  soldier's  belt '  were  revealed  [drch.  xxxv,  380]. 
2  9  2 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

MISSENDEN,  GREAT. — Fragments  of  Roman  pottery  have  been  dug  up  to  the  south-east  of  the  village 
[Rec.  of  Bucks,  vi,  297]. 

NASH  LEE. — At  this  place  is  said  to  be  the  site  of  a  Roman  villa  [6-in.  O.S.  Bucks,  xxxiii,  SE. 
par.  Ellesborough].  The  following  extract  is  given  in  the  Name  Book  of  the  original  Ordnance 
Survey  of  Buckinghamshire,  dated  1896-8  : — '  No  visible  remains  of  this  ancient  building  now 
exist,  but  undoubted  evidence  of  its  former  existence  were  discovered  by  the  late  G.  S.  Stone, 
Esq.  In  the  month  of  September  1858  the  foundations  of  a  Roman  Villa,  together  with  Roman 
tiles  and  pieces  of  Roman  pottery,  including  the  greater  portion  of  two  urns  and  two  bronze 
coins,  one  on  the  foundation  and  the  other  a  short  distance  off,  were  discovered  by  this  gentle- 
man and  presented  by  him  to  the  Bucks.  Archaeological  Society.' 

OAKLEY. — Roman  pottery  and  coins  were  found  in  a  field  on  Ixhill  Farm,  midway  between  Oakley 
and  Worminghall,  also  part  of  a  flue-tile.  In  1892  excavations  were  made  to  remove  some 
large  stones  which  interfered  with  ploughing,  and  several  cart-loads  of  stone  were  dug  up  and 
removed,  which,  it  has  been  suggested,  point  to  the  existence  of  some  Roman  building  here 
[Journ.  of  the  Berks.  Bucks,  and  Oxon.  Assoc.  iv,  46]. 

OLNEY. — Silver  coins  were  found  in  the  neighbourhood  between  the  Lavendon  and  Warrington 
Roads  in  a  field  called  Ashfurlongs,  north  of  Olney ;  three  of  Gratian  (A.D.  375-84)  or 
Gallienus  (A.D.  253-68),  Victorinus  (A.D.  265-7),  and  Allectus  (293-6),  respectively, 
still  remain  at  Olney  [jfourn.  Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  iii,  255  ;  25-in.  O.S.  ii,  16].  In  the  Journ. 
of  the  Berks.  Bucks,  and  Oxon.  Assoc.  (April  1904,  p.  26)  are  mentioned  coins  dating  from  Nero 
(A.D.  54-68)  to  Constantino  (A.D.  306-37).  One  fragment  of  Samian,  some  gray  and  black 
ware,  and  a  bronze  figure  of  Mercury  were  also  found. 

PRINCES  RISBOROUGH. — '  Coins  have  been  found  at  Princes  Risborough '  [Lysons,  Bucks.  483],  and 
others  were  discovered  on  Risborough  Top,  Chiltern  Hills,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  east  of 
Princes  Risborough  [25-in.  O.S.  xxxvii,  7]. 

STEEPLE  CLAYDON. — 'In  1620  an  earthen  pot  full  of  brass  money  bearing  the  stamp,  name,  and 
picture,  some  of  Carausius  (A.D.  287-93),  some  of  Allectus  (293-6)  was  found  under  the 
root  of  a  tree  ...  by  the  great  pond  there  in  the  wood  of  the  worthy  knight  Sir  Thomas 
Challoner  '  [White  Kennet,  Paroch.  Antiq.  Bucks,  ii,  419]. 

STONE. — Many  antiquities,  probably  from  a  Roman  cemetery,  have  been  found  here.  On  the  north 
side  of  the  road,  immediately  opposite  the  vicarage,  in  December  1 87 1,  a  natural  hill  of  sand  was 
excavated,  and  what  was  apparently  a  Roman  kiln,  in  the  shape  of  a  basin,  lined  with  burnt 
clay,  4  ft.  in  diameter  inside,  2^  ft.  in  depth,  the  top  i  ft.  from  the  surface,  therefore  whole 
depth  3^  ft.,  was  found.  It  was  filled  with  sand,  charcoal,  and  a  great  quantity  of  coarse  broken 


SCALE.  6  '"  I     MILE  . 


MILE. 


PLAN  OP  STONE,  SHOWING  SITES  OF  ROMAN  REMAINS 
10 


NORTH  t»   SOUTH 


EAST  h  WEST 


NATURAL 
SURTACC 

BASEMENT 
ROCK 

YELLOW 

SAND 


5  10 

SECTIONS  or  A  CAVITY  CONTAINING  ROMAN  REMAINS,  FOUND  AT 
STONE,   BUCKS. 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

pottery  [Rtc.  of  Bucks,  iv,  122  ;  Journ.  Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  (Ser.  2),  ii,  116].  A  pit  or  well 
was  discovered  in  the  field  where  the  County  Lunatic  Asylum  now  stands.  At  a  depth  of  8  ft. 
the  workmen  came  to  a  stratum  of  hard  blue  stone,  a  foot  in  thickness,  through  which  a  circular 
hole  had  been  made.  Im- 
mediately beneath  a  chamber 
was  found  in  which  were  dis- 
covered many  fragments  of 
cinerary  urns  made  of  dark 
slate-coloured  clay,  some  of 
which  contained  human 
bones,  the  bones  of  some 
large  animal,  and  portions 
of  burnt  oak  and  beech. 
Through  the  centre  of  the 
chamber  the  perpendicular 
shaft  was  continued  for  1 1  ft. 
to  another  and  thicker  stra- 
tum of  rock.  Beneath  this, 
again,  a  second  chamber  was 
discovered  and  cleared  out. 
The  contents  were  similar, 
with  the  addition  of  the  skull, 
teeth,  and  one  horn  of  an 
ox,  a  portion  of  skin,  tanned 
and  preserved  by  the  action 
of  the  sulphurous  acid  of 
the  blue  clay  below,  and 

wood  burnt,  unburnt  and  partially  consumed,  twelve  urns  of  various  forms  and  sizes,  two 
bronze  rings,  apparently  formed  for  armillat,  of  the  rudest  construction,  2j  in.  in  diameter, 
and  a  bucket  with  iron  hoops  and  elects  for  the  handle,  which  could  not  be  found.  About 
50  yds.  north-west  of  the  pit,  2  ft.  below  the  surface,  were  a  double-handled  urn,  one  of  smaller 
size,  an  urn  with  a  single  handle,  and  a  smaller  one  of  dark  clay.  Thirty  yards  south-west  of 
the  pit  were  several  fragments  of  urns,  2  ft.  below  the  surface,  of  the  coarsest  fabric  [Journ. 
Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  xx,  276-7  ;  Arch,  xxxiv,  26  ;  xlvi,  447  ;  Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.  ii,  101  ;  Arch. 
Journ.  viii,  95].  Near  the  same  spot  were  two  coins  in  middle  brass  of  Domitian  (A.D.  81-96) 
(reverse,  fig.  of  Spes)  and  Vespasian  (A.D.  70-9)  (reverse,  altar  between  letters  S.C.). 
STONY  STRATFORD. — A  Roman  villa  has  been  discovered  in  the  parish  of  Paulerspury  near  Stony 
Stratford, close  to  the  course  ofWatling  Street.  In  1850  it  was  recorded  that  'a  fine  tessellated 
pavement  is  already  cleared  '  \lllm.  Land.  News,  1850,  i,  214].  It  has  perhaps  been  sufficiently 
proved  that  Towcester,  and  not  Stony  Stratford,  occupies  the  site  of  Lactodurum,  though  the 
opinion  hitherto  held  by  the  majority  of  antiquaries  was  that  the  latter  marked  the  site  of  the 
Roman  town.  An  urn  found  in  1835  was  exhibited  in  the  Loan  Exhibition  at  Aylesbury, 
1905.  In  1789  Roman  silver  plates  and  other  articles  in  silver  and  brass  were  found  in  an 
urn  at  Windmill  Field  near  Stony  Stratford  [MS.  Min.  Soc.  Antiq.  xxxiii,  306,  June  1813]. 
Lysons  describes  them  in  the  MS.  Minutes  as  '  a  considerable  number  of  plates  of  silver,  of  a  base 
quality  in  form  of  leaves,  much  resembling  those  at  Barkway,  together  with  many  other  articles 
of  silver  and  brass  of  various  shapes,'  and  suggests  that  they  were  parts  of  Roman  military 
standards.  Lysons  states  that  the  following  inscription  is  on  one  of  the  silver  plates,  which, 
though  very  slightly  cut,  may  be  read  thus  : — 

DEO  IOVI    ET    VOLGA 

VASSINVS 

CVM    VELLINT 

ME    CONSACRATVM 

CONSERVAAE    PRO 

MISI    DENARIOS    SEX 

PRO  VOTO 

The  remainder  of  the  last  line  is  obliterated  except  the  final  three  letters,  which  seem  to  be 
LIT.  Drawings,  together  with  the  most  remarkable  of  the  antiquities,  were  exhibited  to  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries.  The  originals  are  now  in  the  British  Museum  and  have  been  copied 
by  Prof.  Hubncr  (Corp.  Inter.  Lot.  vii,  Nos.  80,  81,  82).  Lysons  mentions  a  thin  piece  of 
brass  worked  in  a  conical  form  with  several  appendages  of  the  same  metal  fastened  to  it  with 

II 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

chains,  which  he  suggests  was  fixed  at  the  top  of  the  staff.  Other  objects  he  describes  as 
possibly  '  the  pi/ae,  sometimes  styled  circuit,  and  clypei,  which  are  said  by  Isidorus  to  have  been 
just  added  by  Augustus.'  These  were  of  brass,  with  apparently  plates  of  silver  soldered  to 
them  on  one  side.  They  were  soldered  together,  and  probably  had  rings  by  which  they 
were  suspended  to  the  staff.  Several  thin  plates  of  silver  in  the  form  of  leaves  were  found, 
two  of  which  had  scratched  on  them  an  inscription,  which  may  be  read  DEO  MARTI  SANCTO, 
and  others  had  figures  of  Mars  standing  in  front  of  a  temple,  Mars  and  Victory,  and  Apollo. 
Two  brass  fibulae  were  found  at  the  same  time. 

TAPLOW. — In  a  mound  or  barrow  near  the  old  parish  church  objects  in  gold,  silver,  bronze,  glass, 
and  pottery  were  found.  They  were  of  Anglo-Saxon  date,  except  some  slight  early  remains 
of  Samian  and  other  pottery  [Proc.  Sue.  Antiq.  (Ser.  2),  x,  19  ;  Journ.  Brit.  Arch.  Asm.  xl,  63, 

an]. 

THORNBOROUGH. — Bronze  vases,  a  cinerary  urn  of  glass,  a  bronze  lamp  with  a  crescent  on  the 
handle  resembling  one  found  near  Halesworth  in  Suffolk,  and  other  remains  were  discovered 
in  a  tumulus  on  the  estate  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  exhibited  at  the  Loan  Exhibition 
at  Buckingham  by  the  Hon.  Richard  Neville  [Arch.  Journ.  vii,  82  ;  xii,  276]. 

TINGEWICK. — The  remains  of  a  Roman  villa  were  found  in  the  parish  of  Tingewick,  which  lies 
about  two  miles  westward  from  Buckingham,  and  near  to  the  ancient  road  from  Bicester, 
through  Stratton  Audley  and  Water  Stratford  in  the  direction  of  Towcester.  The  field  in 
which  the  discoveries  were  made  is  called  '  Stollidge,'  and  is  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  village.  The  foundations  stood  on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  which  slopes  in  a  north- 
westerly direction  towards  the  River  Ouse,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  Tingewick  Mill, 
a  situation  unusual  for  the  Romans,  who  generally  chose  a  southern  slope.  The  first  discovery 
was  made  in  1860,  and  the  excavation  was  continued  in  1862.  The  foundations  had  in  places 
been  disturbed,  and  were  too  fragmentary  to  give  a  complete  plan  of  the  building ;  but  from 
the  plan  and  description  made  at  the  time  the  main  building  seems  to  have  been  a  villa  of  the 
corridor  type,  lying  east  and  west,  the  corridor  running  along  the  north  side.  The  total 
length  of  the  house  was  about  93  ft.,  and  the  width  27  ft.,  inside  measurements,  the  rooms  being 
about  12  ft.  wide,  and  the  walls  about  2  ft.  thick.  To  the  south  of  this  building,  about 
106  ft.  away,  was  a  smaller  one,  measuring  externally  22  ft.  4  in.  by  12  ft.  It  was  divided  into 
two  apartments,  the  larger  of  which,  to  the  west,  measured  1 1  ft.  6  in.  by  9  ft.  6  in.,  and  had 
walls  on  the  south  and  west  sides  18  in.  to  20  in.  thick,  and  on  the  north  12  in.  thick.  The 
smaller  apartment  was  divided  into  two,  the  larger  part  of  which  was  6  ft.  6  in.  by  4  ft.  10  in., 
and  the  smaller  3  ft.  loin,  by  i  ft.  loin.  The  latter,  which  was  apparently  a  tank,  was 
surrounded  by  strong  masonry,  on  the  south  18  in.,  on  the  east  2  ft.  loin.,  on  the  north  2  ft., 
and  on  the  west  3  ft.  thick.  The  floor,  which  was  1 7  in.  below  the  ground  level,  was,  together  with 
the  sides,  plastered  with  mortar  said  to  be  hardened  by  fire.  It  had  a  moulding  2^  in.  wide  carried 
round  the  bottom,  and  a  drain  or  flue  5^  in.  by  6  in.,  sunk  a  little  below  the  level,  and  passing 
through  the  outer  wall  in  the  lowest  course  of  the  foundation,  the  top  of  the  drain  being 
formed  by  one  tile  15  in.  long  by  i^  in.  thick.  The  drain,  on  passing  out  of  the  building, 
curved  in  a  westerly  direction  and  ran  down  the  hill.  The  floor  of  the  larger  apartment  was 
paved  with  tiles,  and  was  13  in.  below  the  bottom  of  the  tank  and  2  ft.  6  in.  below  the  prob- 
able level  of  the  smaller  apartment.  A  number  of  flue-tiles  were  found  within  and  with- 
out the  walls,  which  suggested  to  Mr.  Beesley  the  idea  that  this  small  building  was  a  bath  ; 
but  it  seems  more  likely  to  have  been  a  workshop  of  some  kind,  possibly  a  part  of  one  of  the 
small  dye-works  which  seem  to  have  been  a  feature  of  Roman  Britain.  Southward  of  the  drain 
above  mentioned,  about  42  ft.  distant,  were  traces  of  another  drain  or  ditch  running  parallel  to 
it.  About  78  ft.  westward  of  the  corridor  house  was  a  third  drain  on  the  slope  of  the  hill,  which 
is  said  to  have  contained  several  circular  holes  or  rubbish  pits,  which  were  excavated  to  a  depth  of 
about  120  ft.  From  this  last  ditch  the  greater  number  of  the  antiquities  was  taken.  They  are 
very  numerous,  comprising  broken  pottery,  floor,  roof,  and  other  tiles,  bones  of  animals,  iron  nails, 
coins,  and  implements  ;  and  also  earthenware  vessels.  In  one  part  of  the  field  a  large  quantity 
of  dark-coloured  earth  was  found,  and  this  yielded  several  objects  of  interest.  Amongst  others 
were  found  close  to  the  smaller  building,  a  pair  of  bronze  compasses  (fig.  i)  in  perfect  preserva- 
tion, 6£  in.  long,  which  work  on  a  nail  as  a  pivot  or  axis,  the  pointed  or  sharp  end  of  the  nail 
projecting  half  an  inch  on  the  side  opposite  to  the  head  or  nut,  and  having  the  point  bent 
downwards  ;  portions  of  bronze  armillae  (fig;.  2  to  7)  ;  part  of  necklace  (fig.  8),  made  of 
rings  of  silver  wire,  ornamented  with  glass  beads,  the  rings,  each  consisting  of  two  coils  of 
fine  wire,  set  alternately,  two  and  three  together,  divided  by  small  beads  of  dark  blue  glass. 
The  fragment  is  3  in.  in  length,  and  the  clasp  at  one  end  perfect.  There  were  found  also  the 
pin  of  a.  fibula  (tig.  9),  4  in.  in  length,  and  formerly  gilt,  a  very  similar  bronze  pin  from  Wood- 
perry,  Oxon.,  may  be  compared  with  this  [Arch.  Journ.  (1846),  iii,  120];  a  bronze  ring  with 

12 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

hoop  and  two  links  of  wire  chain  broken  (fig.  10) ;  part  of  a  clasp,  or  snap  (fig.  1 1),  bronze, 
formerly  gilded,  which  seems  to  have  belonged  to  a  belt ;  a  triangular  piece  of  bronze  (fig.  12), 
the  surface  and  edges,  which  are  rough,  appear  to  have  been  plated  with  gold,  probably  part 
of  some  ornament;  two  bronze  rings  (figs.  13,  14);  the  bone  handle  of  a  knife  (fig.  15); 
a  fragment  of  a  bone  armilla  or  bracelet  (fig.  16)  ;  a  bone  pin,  broken  at  both  ends  (fig.  17) ; 
a  comb  formed  of  several  pieces  of  bone  riveted  together  with  bronze  fastenings,  it  was  quite 
perfect  when  discovered  ;  a  flat  piece  of  bone  nearly  square,  with  a  small  hole  perforated  at  each 
of  the  four  corners ;  portions  of  iron  cutlery  or  knives  ;  a  bronze  knife  ;  an  iron  ladle  ;  the 
head  of  a  small  iron  spear ;  an  iron  arrow  head,  and  other  iron  objects. 

Besides  these  were  discovered  a  large  iron  ladle  for  melting  metal,  a  lump  of  molten  lead, 
another  of  bronze,  pieces  of  charcoal,  a  large  quantity  of  nails,  an  iron  spindle,  several  bronze 
styles  or  pins,  a  key,  numerous  fragments  of  Stonesfield  slate  used  for  the  roofs,  some  of  them 
having  the  nails  by  which  they  were  fastened  to  the  timber  still  remaining  on  them,  and  a 
piece  of  Andernach  lava,  which,  from  its  shape,  may  have  formed  the  keystone  of  an  arch,  or 
was  possibly  part  of  a  quern.  The  fragments  of  pottery  were  very  numerous,  though 


PLAN  OF   ROMAN   FOUNDATION!  AT  TINGIWICK 
'3 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


no  complete  articles  were  found,  and  none  were  large  enough  for  the  investigators  to 
distinguish  the  shape,  size,  and  ornamentation  of  the  vessels  to  which  they  belonged.  Among 
them  were  several  fragments  of  amphorae  of  large  size,  in  coarse  light  red  ware,  and 
of  mortaria,  one  of  which  was  roughened  with  iron  scoriae.  There  was  only  one  piece  of 
Samian  ware.  One  fragment  of  a  crucible  of  blacklead  ware  like  those  used  by  metallurgists, 
was  found.  A  few  pieces  of  glass  were  found,  yellower  in  colour  than  the  usual  Roman  glass. 
In  addition  to  these  antiquities  thirty-nine  coins  were  discovered,  singly  distributed  throughout 
the  field,  ranging  in  date  from  Elagabalus  (A.D.  218-22)  to  Theodosius  (A.D.  379-95). 
WAVENDON  HEATH. — An  amphora  was  found  in  a  sand-pit  [Lysons,  Bucks.  483]. 


ROMAN  OBJECTS  FOUND  AT  TINGEWICK 
14 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

WESTON  TURVILLE. — Remains  of  a  Roman  burial  were  discovered  here  in  1855  [Arch.  Jaurn.  xxxv, 
290  ;  lllut.  Land,  News,  21  July  1855].  In  the  rectory  garden,  at  a  depth  of  4  ft.  6  in.  below 
the  surface,  a  Roman  vessel  of  coarse  yellow  pottery  was  found,  which  bore  traces  of  old 
fractures,  probably  either  an  amphora  or  a  cinerary  urn.  It  was  placed  in  a  hole  i8in.  in 
diameter,  in  cretaceous  clay,  very  tenacious  and  impervious  to  water  ;  the  contiguous  clay  was 
streaked  with  dark  lines.  The  accompanying  objects  were  in  glass  :  a  bluish-green  circular 
vessel,  with  pieces  of  bone  adhering  to  it  5  a  green  glass  vessel,  6  in.  in  height,  2^  in.  square, 


m.  17 


ROMAN  OBJECTS  POUND  AT  TINCEWICK 
'5 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

which  contained  ashes  ;  a  similar  vessel,  2f  in.  square,  of  which  only  the  bottom  was  found, 
containing  ashes  ;  a  vessel  of  thinner  glass,  of  lighter  green,  3  in.  square.  A  patera  of  Samian 
ware,  nearly  entire,  more  than  2  in.  high,  diameter  7  in.,  potter's  mark  MVXTVLLIM, 
containing  ashes  and  leaves;  another  patera,  if  in.  high,  6^  in.  in  diameter;  a  cup  with  the 
potter's  name,  MEIII.  M.,  nearly  2  in.  in  height,  4^  in.  in  diameter,  if  in.  at  bottom, 
was  also  found,  and  some  silver  beads  with  wire  attached  to  them  ;  with  them  were  an  orna- 
ment like  a  bugle  in  shape,  ^  in.  long  ;  a._fibu/a,  or  brooch,  in  bronze  ;  and  a  bronze  ornament 

1  in.  high,  like  a  fly  ;  also  a  vessel  of  coarse  light  red  pottery,  with  the  neck  broken  off,  7  in.  in 
height,  largest  diameter  4  in.,  containing  ashes  ;   vessels  in  drab-coloured  ware,  one  ornamented 
with  an  imperfect  cross-barred  pattern,  height  rather  more  than  3^  in.,  diameter  3  in.  ;  another, 
probably  about  9  in.  or   10  in.  high,  diameter  5^  in.  ;  a  third,  more  than  2^  in.  in  height,  in 
diameter  not  quite  2  in.     Besides  these  there  were  ornaments  and  various  articles  :  iron  with 
rivets,  and  short  nails  with  fibres  of  wood  adhering  to  them  ;  fibulae;  a  segment  of  a  circular  plate 
in  silvery  bronze,  perhaps  part  of  a  mirror  or  circular  _/%«/,?;  part  of  a  pin  with  ornamented  head, 

2  in.  long,  in  coloured  bone  ;  part  of  a  plain  bone  pin,  3  in.  long  ;  a  small  piece  of  leather  with 
nails  in  it.      Probably  these  were  the  remains  of  a  female  burial. 

WHADDON  CHASE. — In  February  1849  coins,  together  with  the  fragments  of  an  urn  or  earthen 
vessel,  were  discovered  by  a  labourer  while  ploughing  a  portion  of  Whaddon  Chase,  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  coins  were  Roman.  About  three  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  coins  were 
preserved.  It  is  said  that  none  were  inscribed ;  about  a  quarter  of  them  were  stamped  with 
the  figure  of  a  horse  unbridled,  the  reverse  was  a  wreath  dividing  the  field,  while  one  division 
was  filled  by  a  flower.  The  average  weight  of  the  coins  was  90  grains  Troy  \Rec.  of  Bucks. 
i,  15].  Our  authority  states  that  'further  search  in  a  part  of  the  adjacent  chase  yet  uncleared 
led  to  the  discovery  of  a  very  perfect  Roman  camp,  inclosing  an  area  of  about  five  acres.' 


*»*  "^>         f-* 


*****!&& 


N.I        ,-;-  r 

VN1«:»-"-'-""  MARSH  GREEN  I  \\ 

" 


ANCIENT     _.,,...„.. 
COINS      FOUrtO 

*  KEEP  HIUU 


PLAN  OF  ROMAN  SETTLEMENT  NEAR  WYCOMBE 
16 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


of  wheels'  still 
two  feet  thick, 
be  unusual  with 
would  probably 


WORMINGHALL. — A  Constant  in  :':m  bronze  coin  found  here  was  exhibited  in  the  Loan  Exhibition  at 

Aylesbury,  July  1905,  by  Mr.  R.  VV.  Stone  of  Long  Crendon  [Catalogue  of  the  Exhibition]. 
WYCOMBE. — There  seems  to  have  been  a  Roman  settlement  here  of  some  importance.  A  tessel- 
lated pavement  was  discovered  in  1724  in  Penn  Mead  at  the  west  end  of  a  pasture  called  the 
Rye,  about  half  a  mile  from  Wycombe.  According  to  a  record  of  the  time  it  was  'set  in 
curious  figures,  as  circles,  squares,  diamond  squares,  eight  squares,  hearts,  and  many  other 
curious  figures,  with  a  beast  in  the  centre  in  a  circle,  like  a  dog  standing  sideways  by  a  tree,1 
all  set  with  stones  in  red,  black,  yellow,  and  white,  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  square  ;  the 
whole  pavement  was  about  fourteen  foot  square,  the  fine  work  in  the  middle  was  ten  foot  long 
and  eight  foot  broad,  the  rest  was  filled  up  with  Roman  brickabout  an  inch  and  a  half  square.'  In 
1 862  excavations  were  made  on  the  site  at  the  expense  of  the  late  Lord  Carrington,  and  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  E.  J.  Payne  and  Mr.  William  Burgess.  It  is  difficult  to  follow  the  lines  of  the 
building  disclosed  from  the  plan  of  these  excavations  that  has  been  preserved,  but  the  villa  was  only 
partially  explored.  Mr.  Payne  in  his  paper  on  the  excavations,  and  Mr.  Parker  following  him 
in  his  History  of  Wycombe,  describe  a  portion  of  a  range  of  buildings,  to  the  south-east  of  which 
were  found  two  apartments  1 8  ft.  apart.  These  are  described  as  towers  forming  an  entrance 
to  the  range  of  buildings  before  mentioned,  south-west  of  which  were  found  other  living  rooms. 
The  suggestion  as  to  the  towers  is  improbable,  notwithstanding  the  assertion  that  'traces 
remain  in  the  wall  connecting  them.  The  walls,  which  are  only  about 
are  not  strong  enough  for  towers,  and  fortification  of  this  nature  would 
the  Romano-Britons.  If  complete  excavations  of  the  site  were  made  they 
show  that  the  rooms  and  walls  discovered  formed  portions  of  a  courtyard 
type  of  house  of  the  Romano-British  period. 

The  principal  part  uncovered  was  apparently  the  north-western  range,  which  comprised 
an  inner  and  outer  corridor  with  a  series  of  apartments  between  them.  The  large  room  at  the 
north-eastern  end  of  the  north-western  range  had  a  tessellated  pavement  at  its  south-western 
end,  which  has  been  thus  described  :  it  consisted  of  a  '  square  flanked  by  two  oblongs.  To  the 
south-west  of  this  were  other  tessellated  pavements,  one  with  the  remains  of  a  design  in  very 
fine  tesserae  ;  to  the  south-east  of  this  was  another  room,  the  floor  of  which  was  destroyed  and 
the  pilot  of  the  hypocaust  exposed."  A  small  apartment  at  the  south-western  end  of  the  range, 
which  is  shown  by  Mr.  Parker,  but  not  by  Mr.  Payne,  is  supposed  by  the  former  to  be  that 
discovered  in  1724.  In  the  south-eastern  range  were  the  two  rooms  paved  with  common  red 
tesserae  which  have  been  described  as 
towers,  and  southward  of  these  were 
other  remains  which  were  only  par- 
tially explored,  consisting  of  a  large 
apartment  with  a  hypocaust  and  the 
ruins  of  pilot  mixed  with  pieces  of 
pavement  of  guilloche  pattern.  Ad- 
joining this  was  found  what  Mr. 
Parker  describes  as  without  doubt  the 
bath,  with  a  pavement  of  white 
tesserae  about  an  inch  square,  and  a 
margin  of  red  tesserae.  The  walls 
were  decorated  with  paintings,  a  'part 
of  a  fish  resembling  a  roach '  being 
seen.  Remains  of  other  walls  were 
found  which  were  possibly  on  the 
line  of  the  inner  corridor.  Among  the 
objects  brought  to  light  were  an  arrow 
head,  two  bone  pins,  a  bronze  steel- 
yard similar  to  one  found  at  Circn- 
cester,  and  many  fragments  of  pottery. 
The  designs  of  the  pavements  were 
worked  in  very  fine  tesserae,  described 
as  no  larger  than  peas,  indicating 
probably  good  work  and  an  early  date. 
Near  to  these  villas  is  the  site  of  an 
ancient  camp,  in  which  eleven  ancient 
British  gold  coins  have  been  found.  PLAN  or  TOWN  OF  WYCOMBE,  »HOWING  ROMAN  SITES 

1  This  central  subject,  Mr.  John  Parker  suggests,  is  Cave  Caaem,  but  we  may  with  more  probability  sup- 
pose that  it  represented  some  mythological  incident. 

2  '7  3 


PIAN  OF  ROMAN  VILLA  AT  WVCOMBE 


ROMANO-BRITISH    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Some  Roman  tesserae  were  discovered  a  little  to  the  north  of  this  villa  in  a  field  called  Holywell 
or  Hallewell  Mead,  which  has  given  rise  loan  improbable  theory  that  here  was  a  Roman  fortress. 
A  Roman  vessel  was  found  in  High  Street,  Wycombe,  and  Roman  coins  of  Nerva  (A.D.  96—7), 
Antoninus  Pius  (A.D.  138-61),  and  Marcus  Aurelius  (A.D.  161-80)  have  been  found  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  a  Roman  wall  and  tessellated  pavements  in  the  garden  of  a  hou-e  in  All- 
hallows  Lane,  adjoining  a  house  called  The  Priory,  on  the  west  [E.  J.  Payne,  Rec.  of  Bucks,  iii, 
no.  5,  p.  160  et  seq.  ;  Parker,  The  Early  Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  IVycombe,  2,  3],  In  1863  a 
bronze  ornament  was  discovered,  4^  in.  long  ;  a  quadrangular  tube  with  flanges  round  three 
sides  of  one  end,  and  a  bust  of  Minerva  at  the  other  end  ;  midway  on  each  side  of  the  tube 
was  a  square  hole.  The  workmanship  of  the  head  was  bold  and  coarse.  Probably  it  was  part 
of  the  pole  of  a  chariot.  It  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

Recent  excavations  for  the  Great  Western  and  Great  Central  Railway  Companies  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  High  Wycombe  have  disclosed  Roman  coins.  One  was  of  the  date 
A.D.  322.  The  obverse  has  a  bust  to  t'le  right  with  the  legend  CRISPUS  NOBIL  c.  In  its 
centre  the  reverse  has  a  decorated  altar  inscribed  VOTIS  xx  ;  around  it  BEATA  TRANQUILLITAS, 
and  below,  p.  LOND.,  indicating  a  London  mint.  Another  coin  of  the  date  A.D.  300  shows 
the  bust  of  the  Emperor  Valerius  ;  the  legend  is  MAXIMIANVS  NOB.  c.*s.,  the  reverse  a  standing 
figure  representing  the  genius  of  the  Roman  people,  with  the  legend  surrounding  it  CENIO 
POPULI  ROMANI  [Dally  Telegraph,  3  Mar.  1904].  A  third  isolated  coin  of  the  2nd  century  is 
silver.  The  obverse  has  a  bust  of  the  empress,  with  face  to  the  right  and  superscription  JULIA 
PIA  FELIX  AVG.  ;  the  reverse  has  VENVS  GENETRIX,  with  an  image  of  a  goddess  [Daily  Chron. 
26  Aug.  1902]. 


MAP 

showing 


of 
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


Reference 

B   Hill  Forts  etc. 

Rectangular    Camps   etc  . 
3    Castle  Mounts 

Castle  Mounts  with  attached  Courts 

Homestead  Moats 

Manorial  Strongholds 

Ancient  Village  Sites 

Unclassified  Earthworks 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 


The  student  of  the  earthworks  of  a  county,  or  larger  tract  of  country, 
who  attempts  anything  in  the  way  of  classification  finds  his  efforts  beset  with 
considerable  difficulties.  The  present  form  of  the  ramparts  and  fosses  is  a 
matter  which  causes  little,  if  any,  trouble,  and  the  plans  published  in  the 
maps  of  the  Ordnance  Survey  (25  in.  to  the  mile)  will  be  found  generally 
sufficient. 

The  chief  difficulties  he  encounters  are  :  (i)  in  ascertaining  the  respec- 
tive ages  or  periods  of  the  works  ;  and  (2)  in  discovering  to  what  extent  the 
earthworks,  as  originally  constructed,  have  been  modified  or  obliterated. 
Without  something  more  than  an  examination  of  the  surface  this  is  often  not 
only  difficult,  but  impossible.  Under  these  circumstances  the  decision  of  the 
Congress  of  Archaeological  Societies  to  record  the  remains  as  they  actually 
exist,  without  at  present  attempting  to  assign  them  to  any  particular  period, 
is  undoubtedly  wise.  Certain  works,  such  as  regular  Roman  camps  and 
Norman  strongholds,  are,  of  course,  sufficiently  well  marked  to  be  classified. 

The  present  description  of  the  ancient  defensive  and  other  earthworks 
of  Buckinghamshire,  which  has  been  written  in  conformity  with  this  prin- 
ciple, will  be  understood,  it  is  hoped,  to  be  by  no  means  a  final  or  complete 
record  of  these  interesting  relics  of  ancient  times.  Before  any  such  precise 
summary  can  be  written  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  careful  and  minute 
investigations,  aided  by  extensive  excavations  of  the  various  sites. 

The  main  divisions  of  ancient  defensive  earthworks  contemplated  in  the 
scheme  of  the  Congress  just  referred  to  are  as  follows  : — 

A. — Fortresses  partly  inaccessible,  by  reason  of  precipices,  cliffs,  or  water,  additionally  defended 

by  banks  or  walls. 
B. — Fortresses  on   hill-tops   with    artificial    defences,  following  the  natural  line  of  hill ;    or, 

though  usually  on  high  ground,  less  dependent  on  natural  slopes  for  protection. 
C. — Rectangular  or  other  simple  inclosures,  including  forts  and  towns  of  the  Romano-British 

period. 

D. — Forts  consisting  only  of  a  mount  with  encircling  ditch  or  fosse. 
E. — Fortified  mounts,  either  artificial  or  partly  natural,  with   traces  of  an  attached  court  or 

bailey,  or  of  two  or  more  such  courts. 
F. — Homestead  moats,  such  as  abound  in  some  lowland  districts,  consisting  of  simple  inclosures 

formed  into  artificial  islands  by  water-moats. 
G. — Inclosures,   mostly  rectangular,  partaking  of  the   form  of  F,  but  protected  by  stronger 

defensive  works,  ramparted  and  fossed,  and  in  some  instances  provided  with  outworks. 
H. — Ancient  village  sites  protected  by  walls,  ramparts,  or  fosses. 
X. — Defensive  works  which  fall  under  none  of  these  headings. 

The  ancient  defensive  earthworks  of  Buckinghamshire  are  divisible  into 
several  classes,  the  earliest  hill-top  fortifications  being  closely  related  to  the 
Chiltern  Hills,  a  range  of  chalk  downs  which,  with  the  exception  of  the 

21 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


Thames    Valley    in    the   extreme  south,    occupies   practically   the    whole  of 
the  southern  half  of  the  county. 

Compared  with  the  earthworks  of  some  other  counties  the  works  of 
Buckinghamshire  are  of  small  extent,  and,  owing  to  the  wooded  character  of 
the  hills,  they  are  less  easily  seen  than  they  are  in  such  a  district  as  the 
South  Downs  of  Sussex,  for  instance,  where  the  ramparts  and  fosses  are 
prominent  features,  sometimes  visible  from  considerable  distances. 

In  any  attempt  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  ancient  camps  of  Buck- 
inghamshire, it  is  desirable  to  bear  in  mind  the  important  natural  features  of 
the  Chiltern  Hills,  which  run  across  the  county  in  a  practically-east-and-west 
direction,  the  hilly  ground  of  the  chalk  being  to  the  south,  and  the  low-lying 
pasturage  ground  of  the  Vale  of  Aylesbury  stretching  away  to  the  north.  The 

hills  of  Buckinghamshire 

N.  never    afforded    such   an 

essentially  grazing  dis- 
trict as  the  South  Downs, 
and  there  was  no  reason 
to  construct  camps  of 
large  size  capable  of  in- 
closing and  defending 
vast  flocks  of  sheep  or 
herds  of  cattle.  The 
fertile  plains  of  Bucking- 
hamshire were  appa- 
rently brought  into  cul- 
tivation at  a  time  when 
this  system  of  protective 
inclosure  was  no  longer 
in  vogue  nor  necessary. 


SCALE  Or  FEET 
O  IOO         tOO       2>OO 


HILL   FORTS 

(CLASS  B) 


' DANESBOROUGH,*  Bow  BRICKHILL 


A  number  of  the 
Buckinghamshire  earth- 
works come  under  this  heading  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  lines  of  artificial 
defence  follow  the  natural  contour  of  the  ground,  and  are  placed  at  the  point 
where  tolerably  level  ground  or  table-land  develops  into  inconvenient  or 
dangerous  declivity. 

Bow  BRICKHILL  :  DANESBOROUGH. — This  is  a  rather  irregular  oval  earth- 
work consisting  of  a  single  rampart,  broken  by  a  considerable  space  on  the 
north,  and  damaged  from  the  north-east  side  by  the  construction  of  a  modern 
road. 

CHOLESBURY  CAMP. — The  form  of  this  camp,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
accompanying  plan,  is  fairly  oval,  slight  irregularities  being  discernible  on 
the  west  and  north-west  sides. 

The  camp,  locally  known  as  '  the  Bury,'  occupies  a  piece  of  level  ground 
on  the  summit  of  a  range  of  the  Chiltern  Hills  which  marks  the  junction  of 
the  eastern  part  of  Buckinghamshire  and  the  western  part  of  Hertfordshire. 


22 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 

The  works,  which  encompass  an  area  of  about  ten  acres,  inclose  the  parish 
church  and  churchyard  of  Cholesbury,  which  are  situated  in  the  south-west 
part  of  the  inclosure. 

Lipscomb,  in  his  History  of  Buckinghamshire?  writes  : — 

The  lines  consist  of  a  very  deep  trench  and  strong  vallum  or  rampart  of  earth,  on  the 
north,  east,  and  part  of  the  south  sides,  strengthened  by  a  second  line  at  the  north-eastern 
and  north-western  angles ;  and  also  from  the  south-eastern  part,  in  a  parallel  line  along  that 
side,  until  it  disappears  near  the  churchyard  :  part  of  which  seems  to  occupy  the  inner 
bank,  as  the  site  of  the  minister's  house  does  likewise  the  exterior  rampart,  which  has 
evidently  been  levelled.  On  the  east  and  west  sides  or  ends  of  the  encampment  the  foss  is 
single  ;  in  some  places  30  ft.  in  depth,  but  towards  the  south-west  it  is  nearly  obliterated. 
In  those  parts  where  the  trench  is  double,  the  width  is  about  equal  to  the  depth  ;  and  the 


,^> 
'// 


dr  $z   »v 

jJ*       ^cr     >»$  c-     ,- 

/  ^//  ^n 

&     =  £   **  //    £? 

-    -     -*    =  s  ^     o$? 


&/f 

Church  -   Pond  ^^   ^f^ 


*:-?.*  A*  <f$ 

1   '  ~1~  >>*  v»>         v^    v*- 

s.i~"--z  n..    —u  P^^W  ->.^       »VL«V 


-^•; 


»XSt 


SCALE  Of  FEET 

o         \oo      too       soo 

CHOLESBURY  CAMP 

rampart  between  them,  as  well  as  the  sides  of  the  ditches  and  verge  exteriorly,  are  covered 
with  trees  and  brushwood,  excepting  only  where  a  narrow  approach  to  the  area  has  been 
left  on  the  south  and  west.  About  the  centre  of  the  north  side  appears  to  have  been 
another  opening,  but  long  disused,  so  as  to  have  become  obscured  by  trees  and  bushes  ;  and 
now,  only  to  be  conjectured  one  of  the  original  entrances. 

Lipscomb  speaks  subsequently  of  the  camp  as  an  oblong  square,  an 
opinion  formed  apparently  by  his  misunderstanding  of  the  addition  to 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  camp  already  alluded  to.  The  fosses  on  the 
southern  side  of  the  camp  are  of  considerable  depth,  and  the  curve  they 
follow  is  determined  apparently  by  the  natural  contour  of  the  hill.  On  the 

1  (1847)  iii,  314.     The  camp  is  regarded  by  Lipscomb  as  of  British  or  Danish  workmanship. 

23 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

north  side  the  contiguous  ground  is  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  area  inclosed 
by  the  vallum  :  but  on  the  east  and  west,  where  the  trench  is  single  but  of 
great  depth,  it  declines  rapidly.  On  the  south,  where  are  two  fosses,  the 
ground  immediately  contiguous  is  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  entrenchment, 
but  soon  gradually  declines.  Along  this  part  of  the  camp  is  the  course  of 
an  ancient  road. 

The  general  conclusions  formed  by  Lipscomb  from  his  examination  of 
the  camp  are  that  it  is  a  work  of  Danish  origin,3  and  that  originally  it  was 
constructed  as  a  single  vallum  round  the  top  of  an  eminence,  advantage 
having  been  taken  of  the  irregularities  of  the  ground.  He  saw  traces  of 
only  two  entrances,  but  a  subsequent  writer  3  succeeded  in  finding  definite 
traces  of  four  entrances. 

There  is  a  good  pond  inside  the  area  of  the  camp,  which  like  West 
Wycombe  and  Castle  Thorpe  incloses  the  church  of  the  parish. 

DESBOROUGH  CASTLE. — This  important  earthwork,  popularly  called  '  The 
Roundabout,'  lies  on  the  top  of  a  hill  a  little  to  the  south-west  of  the  road 
which  leads  along  the  valley  from  High  Wycombe  to  West  Wycombe. 
The  camp  must  have  been  one  of  considerable  strength  in  ancient  times  on 
account  of  its  important  strategic  situation  and  the  arrangement  of  its 
defences. 

Originally  the  top  of  the  hill  appears  to  have  been  occupied  by  a 
pre-historic  camp  inclosing  a  considerable  area  of  ground.  Subsequently  a 
smaller  camp,  oval  in  outline,  and  consisting  of  an  outer  fosse  and  an  inner 
rampart  of  great  height  and  strength,  was  thrown  up.  A  writer  on  this 
camp,  Mr.  R.  S.  Downs,  of  Wycombe  (Rec.  of  Bucks,  v,  249),  regards  the 
older  camp  as  outworks  of  the  newer  camp,  in  which,  he  remarks,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  there  was  a  building  of  considerable  strength,  as  the 
remains  of  old  tiling,  hewn  stone,  and  masonry  plainly  indicate. 

Whilst  felling  trees  which  grew  here  about  1743  (he  writes)  portions  of  stone  gothic  work 
were  dug  up  resembling  the  jambs  of  a  church  window.  Of  the  once-famous  Desborough  Castle, 
nothing  now  remains  but  the  name  and  the  tradition  that  such  a  building  once  existed  here. 

The  earlier  earthworks  at  Desborough  Castle  have  become  much  modi- 
fied since  the  period  when  they  were  thrown  up.  Flint  implements  have 
been  found  upon  the  site. 

Numerous  attempts  have  been  made  by  different  writers  to  show  that 
Desborough  Castle  is  of  Saxon  or  Danish  origin,  but  these  theories  appear 
to  be  merely  speculations  based  on  no  solid  or  sufficient  evidence.  It  is  sig- 
nificant, however,  that  Desborough  Hundred  derives  its  name  from  this  castle. 
Desborough  *  was  also  probably  a  place  of  popular  meeting  or  folk-mote, 
and  from  every  point  of  view  was  a  central  and  locally  important  place  ; 
but  an  inspection  of  its  interesting  earthworks  is  sufficient  to  suggest  that  its 
importance  began  at  a  far  earlier  time  than  the  Saxon  or  Danish  periods. 

HEDGERLEY  :  BULSTRODE  PARK. — The  chief  feature  about  this  camp  is 
its  size,  which  is  unusually  large  for  Buckinghamshire.  The  entrenchments, 
it  will  be  noticed,  are  double  on  the  north-east  side,  treble  at  one  or  two 
points,  and  inclose  an  area  of  2 1  acres  of  land.  The  breaks  on  the  north- 

'  Of  this  we  can  find  no  evidence.  '  Rev.  W.  Hastings  Kelke,  Arch.  Journ.  xiv,  273. 

4  Rec.  of  Bucks,  viii,  464. 

24 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 


west  and  south-east  sides  are  probably  larger  now  than  they  originally  were 
owing  to  damage   or  subsequent  modification  of  the  earthen  banks.      When 

Lipscomb  wrote'  the  camp  was 
disfigured  by  some  large  oak-trees 
growing  on  the  ramparts,  a  blemish 
which  still  remains. 

MONKS  RISBOROUGH  :  PULPIT 
WOOD. — This  hill-top  camp  may 
be  described  as  consisting  of  an 
irregular  and  interrupted  circle  of 
rampart  strengthened  by  a  fosse, 
which  is  more  complete  than  the 
bank,  a  circumstance  which  may 
be  explained,  at  least  in  part,  by 
the  subsequent  degradation,  by  rain- 
wash  and  other  forces,  of  the  ram- 
parts. The  double  line  of  ramparts 
on  the  north-east,  east,  and  south- 
east sides  was  necessary,  in  order  to 
cut  off  the  camp  from  a  small  area 
of  flat  ground  to  the  north-east. 

The  manner  in  which  the 
natural  features  have  been  utilized, 
and  the  extent  to  which  these 


"'••.iMimimmiiniiMKii' 


JCALlOf  fttT 

«         190      too     ».»0 


features  have  affected  the  shape  of 
BULSTRODE  PARK,  HEDCIRLET  the  camp,  are  points  which  strike 

the    observer  at  once,  and    clearly 

testify  to  the  skill  of  the  people  who  made  the  earthwork.  On  the  north- 
western side  of  the  camp  the  natural  slope  of  the  earth  is  so  great  as  to  render 
a  built-up  rampart  hardly  necessary.  A  fosse,  therefore,  has  been  constructed 
with  a  small  expenditure  of 
effort  by  throwing  the  moved 
soil  down  the  hill,  in  the 
manner  indicated  in  the  sec- 
tion C— D  in  the  accompany- 


ing  plan.  This  s  a  speces 
of  labour-saving  fortification, 
of  which  there  are  numerous 
other  pre-historic  instances. 
In  this  county  there  is  an 
even  finer  example  of  its  use 
on  the  south-west  side  of 
the  very  interesting  series  of 
earthworks  surrounding  the 
upper  part  of  the  hill  on 
which  stands  the  church  of 
West  Wycombe.  On  the 
north,  north-east,  east,  and 


$!  *- 

MJ>  SECTIONS. 


SCALE  Or 
100       zoo 


300 


PULPIT  WOOD,  MONKS  RISBOROUGH 
*  Hut.  and  Antiq.  of  Bucki.  (1847),  iv,  507. 
25 


/i, 

*, 


N 


05 


Church 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

south-east  sides  of  Pulpit  Wood  there  is  a  double  set  of  ramparts,  and  exactly 
on  the  east  side  is  a  large  entrance. 

In  the  inclosure  of  the  camp   and    round  it  many  flint  flakes  and  chip- 
pings,  indicative  of  a  Neolithic  factory,  have  been  noticed  ;   and,  although  it 
is  perhaps  not  wise  to  pronounce  positively    upon  the  matter,  there  is  some 
reason  to  believe  that  this  is  entitled  to  rank  as  one  of  the  Neolithic  strong- 
holds of  Buckinghamshire. 

HIGH  WYCOMBE  :  KEEP 
HILL. — This  is  another  hill-top 
camp  which  may  be  mentioned 
under  Class  B. 

WEST  WYCOMBE. —  This 
is  a  nearly  circular  earthwork, 
inclosing  the  church  and 
churchyard  of  West  Wycombe. 
From  the  north  to  the  east  the 
rampart  is  double.  On  the 
south-east  the  works  have  been 
destroyed  in  connexion  with 
the  building  of  a  large  eigh- 
teenth-century mausoleum  for 
the  use  of  the  Dashwood 
family.  From  the  south  to 
the  west  the  natural  slope  of 
the  ground  is  so  great  as  to 
render  fosses  unnecessary,  and 
the  defences,  therefore,  consist 
of  two  terraces.  The  inner 
ring  of  defence  is  pretty  clearly 
indicated  by  the  fence  inclos- 
ing the  churchyard. 

A  narrow  neck  of  land  of 
about  the  same  level  as  the 
camp  runs  to  the  northward, 
where  it  joins  the  hills  beyond, 
but  on  the  other  sides  the  hill 
has  steep  natural  slopes  on  which  grow  numerous  yew  trees. 

The  terraced  defences  just  referred  to  are  interesting,  and  may  be  com- 
pared with  a  similar  but  single  piece  of  work  at  Pulpit  Wood. 

WENDOVER. — On  Boddington  Hill  there  is  an  unmistakable  camp,  and 
at  Backham  Hill  the  alleged  camp  is  probably  a  barrow  which  has  sub- 
sequently been  used  as  a  beacon  station. 

WHELPLEY  HILL. — There  is  a  fine  oval  camp  here  nearly  obliterated. 


'Mausoleum 


SCALE  OF  FEET 
O  100       zoo      sop 

SECTIONS. 


C.Hass  of  Hertfordshire 
Conglomerate . 

EARTHWORKS  ROUND   WEST  WYCOMBE  CHURCH 


26 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 

RECTANGULAR    OR    OTHER    SIMPLE    INCLOSURES 

(CLASS  C) 
Examples  of  rectangular  earthworks  remain  at 

MUSWELL  HILL,  near  Brill,  where  the  site  abounds  in  flints  ; 
GREAT     MISSENDEN. — One    at    Reddenwych    Wood,    and    another    on 
Castle  Hill,  called  Rookwood  Camp  ; 
SHENLEY  CHURCH  END  ;  and 
WHADDON. 

FORTS    CONSISTING    ONLY    OF    A    MOUNT    WITH 
ENCIRCLING    DITCH  OR  FOSSE 

(CLASS    D) 

At  Cublington,  six  miles  to  the  north-east  of  Aylesbury,  there  is  a  work 
known  as  '  the  Beacon,'  marked  as  a  tumulus  on  the  Ordnance  Survey  map, 
which  may  be  placed  under  Class  D,  as  it  appears  to  have  been  a  castle 
mount. 

MOUNTS    WITH    ONE    OR    MORE   ATTACHED    COURTS 

(CLASS  E) 

Buckinghamshire  furnishes  only  a  few  examples  of  moated  mounts  with 
courts,  or  baileys,  attached.  In  addition  to  those  which  remain,  it  is 
possible  that  the  earthwork  defences  of  Buckingham  Castle  were  of  the 
moated  mount  and  bailey  type.  The  small  engraved  bird's-eye  view  in  Speed's 
early  seventeenth-century  map  shows  an  eminence  marked  '  Castell  Hill,' 
which  certainly  suggests  this  ;  but  as  the  site  has  been  entirely  altered  and 
levelled  it  is  impossible  to  say  positively. 

CASTLE  THORPE. — The  evidence  for  this  belonging  to  Class  E  is  not 
very  strong,  but  the  mount  is  clearly  defined,  and  in  the  case  of  one  of  the 
baileys  or  in- 
closures,  part  of 
the  defences 
consists  of  dou- 
ble ramparts. 
The  parish 
church,  as  in 
the  case  of  two 
other  Bucking- 
hamshire sites, 
is  built  within 
the  precincts  of 
the  more  an- 
cient earth-  SCALEOFFECT  '//imV  <!' M,  -,/«  Ch< 
works,doubtless  9  '9<>  too  3QQ  Mary* 

for  protection.  EARTHWORKS  AT  CAVTLI  THORPE 

27 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


SCALE  OF  FEET 

I  IOO        ZOO       3OO 

iii 

CASTLE  HILL,  HIGH  WYCOMBK 


HIGH    WYCOMBE. — Castle   Hill,   standing  in   private  grounds   at   High 

Wycombe,  may  possibly  be  part  of  an  earthwork  of  the  Class  E  type. 

LITTLE  KIMBLE  :  CYMBELINE'S  MOUNT. 
— This  work,  as  has  been  remarked,  occu- 
Barrow  pies  an  important  and  prominent  look-out 

point  on  a  spur  of  the  Chiltern  Hills. 
It  may  be  conveniently  placed  under 
Class  E.  Its  situation  and  small  size  give 
it  a  peculiar  interest. 

Compared  with  the  finest  types  of 
Class  E,  such  as  Arundel,  Lewes,  Ongar, 
and  Windsor,  this  work  appears  to  present 
a  species  of  defence  which  is  much  more 
nearly  allied  to  pre-historic  times,  than  to 
the  Norman  period,  an  era  to  which  the 
regular  mount  and  bailey  earthworks  are 
now  commonly  referred  by  antiquaries.  It 
must  have  been  always  a  very  good  point 

from  which  much  of  the  surrounding  country  could  be  overlooked.      Indeed, 

the  earthwork  seems  in  many  ways  far  more  suitable  for  such  a  purpose  than 

for  a  purely  defensive  camp  possessing  strategic  advantages. 

Cymbeline's  Mount  consists  of  a  circular  pyramidal  mount  with  trun- 
cated top.     This  top  is  surrounded  at  the  base  by  a  well-developed  fosse,  the 

earth  from  which  has  been  utilized  in  making  the 

annular   rampart  which  incloses  the  whole.      This 

fact    is   clearly    demonstrated    by    the    re-arranged 

chalk  revealed  in  rabbh-burrows. 

Tradition  assigns  this  work  to  Cymbeline,  or 

Cunobelinus,  the  king   of  south-east   Britain   who 

was  reigning  a  few  years  before  the  Christian  era, 

and  about   forty  years  after   it ;   but  the   evidence 

of  Neolithic    implements  found  within  one  of  the 

square   inclosures    points    to   earlier  occupation   of 

the  site.      Small  fragments  of  pottery  of  pre-Roman 

character   have  been    noticed   in   the  camp  by  the 

present  writer. 

The  inclosures   or    baileys  may  perhaps   have 

contained    stockaded    villages    or    places    for    the 

shelter  and  protection  of  sheep,  or  indeed  for  both 

purposes.      No    traces   of  masonry   or   foundations 

are  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.      The  work  overhangs  Icknield  Way. 
On  the  still  higher  ground  to  the  south  of  Cymbeline's  Mount  there  are 

remains  which  may  possibly  be  those  of  ancient  hut-floors. 


k»*L? 


SCALE  OF  FEET 
0  100        gOO       300 

CYMBELINE'S  MOUNT,  LITTLE 
KIMBLE 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 

HOMESTEAD    MOATS 
(Class  F) 

Earthworks  of  this  kind,  consisting  of  simple  inclosurcs  formed  into 
artificial  islands  by  water-moats,  arc  found  mostly  in  the  lowlands  of  the  county 
in  such  districts  as  the  richly  pastured  plain  known  as  the  Vale  of  Aylesbury. 

The  purpose  of  the  typical  homestead  moat  was  to  afford  protection 
from  marauders  or  wolves,  and  possibly  to  avoid  risk  of  loss  of,  or  damage  to, 
cattle  and  farm  produce  from  a  spreading  fire.  Yet,  although  they  were  not 
constructed  to  withstand  powerful  enemies  or  regular  military  operations, 
they  were  not  infrequently  of  considerable  size.  They  present  much  variety 
of  form,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  typical  examples  here  figured. 

The  probability  is  that  the  homestead  moats  of  Buckinghamshire  have 
been  constructed  at  different  periods ;  but  if,  as  seems  extremely  probable, 
they  represent  the  period  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  settled  down  to 
the  regular  and  systematic  pursuit  of  husbandry,  most  of  the  really  ancient 
examples  are  probably  Saxon. 

In  the  accompanying  plate  are  represented  plans  of  nine  typical  or  note- 
worthy forms  of  homestead  moats  in  Buckinghamshire. 

Fig.  i. — A  very  simple  square  inclosure  with  entrance  at  north-east 
corner  :  Horton. 

Fig.  2. — A  very  similar  example  in  which  the  water,  represented  in 
solid  black,  has  probably  shrunk  in  bulk,  leaving  precipitous  sides  within 
and  without  the  moat  :  Bow  Brickhill. 

Fig.  3. — A  completely  surrounded  square  island,  the  moat  being  crossed 
by  a  bridge  :  Horton  Hall,  Slapton. 

Fig.  4. — Two  square  islands  surrounded  by  a  moat :  Apsley,  Little 
Kimble. 

Fig.  5. — A  curiously  shaped  semicircular  island  surrounded  by  a  moat, 
with  an  entrance  at  the  south-western  side  :  Church  Farm,  Pitstone. 

Fig.  6. — A  nearly  regular  five-sided  island  entirely  surrounded  by  a 
moat  :  Little  Pednor  Farm,  Chesham. 

Fig.  7. — A  curiously  irregular  moat,  roughly  square  outside,  with 
narrow  entrance  on  north  side  :  East  End,  North  Crawley. 

Fig.  8. — Dry  moat  at  Cippenham,  Burnham,  inclosing  the  site  of  the 
palace  of  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall  and  king  of  the  Romans,  therefore 
probably  a  work  of  the  thirteenth  century,  or  earlier. 

Fig.  9. — An  irregularly  shaped  moat  and  inclosure,  with  a  strengthening 
rampart  on  the  north-east  and  east  :  Dinton. 

The  following  is  a  list,  which  has  no  pretension  to  completeness,  of 
homestead  moats  in  Buckinghamshire  : — 

ASHLEY  GREEN. — Moat  inclosing  ruins  of  chapel. 

ASTON  ABBOTS. — Remains  of  a  moat. 

ASTON  CLINTON. — Rectangular  moat  :  also  a  dry  moat  at  Vatche's  Farm. 

ASTON  SANDFORD. — A  moat  one  mile  north-east  of  church. 

ASTWOOD. — Portions  of  a  moat  at  The  Bury :  also  a  small  quadrangular 
moat. 

AYLESBURY. — Moat  ij  miles  east  of  the  town. 

29 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

BIERTON. — Moat  J  mile  south  of  the  village. 

BOARSTALL. — Two  quadrangular  moats. 

Bow  BRICKHILL. — Simple  quadrangular  moat  (see  fig.  2). 

BRADWELL  ABBEY. — Irregularly  shaped  moat  at  Moat  House ;  and  remains 
of  a  circular  moat. 

BROUGHTON  BY  BIERTON. — Moat  at  Manor  Farm. 

BUCKLAND. — Moat  of  irregular  quadrangular  form,  near  Moat  Farm. 

BURNHAM. — Moat   of  large  size  and  somewhat  mutilated,  at  Burnham 
Abbey  :   also  moat  round  site  of  royal  palace  at  Cippenham  (see  fig.  8). 

BURNHAM  BEECHES. — Harlequin's  Moat. 

CHEDDINGTON. — Moat  near  Cheddington  Manor  House. 

CHESHAM. — Moat  at  Little  Pednor  Farm  (see  fig.  6). 

CHETWODE. — Moat  near  church  and  Priory  House. 

CHICHELEY. — Moat  i  mile  east  of  church. 

CLAYDON,  EAST. — Portions  of  a  quadrangular  moat. 

CRAWLEY,  NORTH. — Curious  moat  inclosing  five  small  ponds  at  Up  End  ; 
also  moat  at  the  manor-house  at  East  End. 

DENHAM. — Moat  at  Denham  Lodge. 

DINTON. — Irregular  moat,  with  protecting  rampart  (see  fig.  9). 

DRAYTON    BEAUCHAMP. — Irregular   moat,   consisting    possibly  of    three 
nearly  related  inclosures. 

EDLESBOROUGH. — Moat  at  Church  Farm,  and  another  at  Manor  Farm. 
Moat  at  Butler's  Farm. 

ELLESBOROUGH. — Moats  at  Nash  Lee,  Terrick  House,  Grove  Farm,  and 
Chalkshire  Farm. 

GRENDON  UNDERWOOD. — Moat  of  irregular  form  near  the  church. 

HAMPDEN,  GREAT. — Moat  at  Moat  Farm,  Kiln  Common. 

HANSLOPE. — Moat  (part  of)  at  Ivy  Farm. 

HARDMEAD. — Oblong  moat  at  Astwood  Farm  :   also  a  moat  almost  sur- 
rounding the  site  of  Hardmead  Manor  House. 

HARTWELL. — Moat  2  miles  south-east  of  church. 

HAVERSHAM. — Nearly  complete  quadrangular  moat  near  church. 

HOGSHAW. — Moat  near  Hogshaw   Farm  :    also   remains  of  rectangular 
moat  at  Fulbrook  Farm. 

HORSENDEN. — Irreguhr  fragments  of  moat.     There  is  also  a  fairly  com- 
plete but  irregular  moat  at  Roundabout  Wood. 

HORTON. — Moat  at  Horton  Hall.     Another  to  the  south-west  of  Horton 
Mills  (see  fig.  i).     Remains  of  Moat  at  Berkin  Manor. 

HORWOOD,  LITTLE. — Moat  at  Moat  Farm. 

HULCOTT. — Quadrangular  moat,  with  entrance  at  north-west  corner. 

IVINGHOE. — Moat  of  quadrangular  form,  with  extension   to  the  north- 
east. 

KIMBLE,  GREAT. — Moat  at  Marsh.     Moat  of  irregular  form  at  Grange 
Farm. 

KIMBLE,  LITTLE. — Moat  at  Apsley  :  with  double  inclosure  (see  fig.  4). 

LANGLEY  MARISH. — Moat,  of  lozenge  form,   at   Parlaunt    Park    Farm  ; 
two  other  moats  at  '  Trenches ; '  and  another  at  Parsonage  Farm. 

LAVENDON. — Lavendon    Grange  and  site  of  Lavendon  Abbey,   also  at 
Uphoe  Manor  House. 

30 


N 


N 


N 


N 


N 


TYPICAL    EXAMPLES   OP    HOMESTEAD    MOATS    IN    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

LUDGERSHALL. — Small  quadrangular  moat  ;  also  moat,  of  irregularly 
quadrangular  form,  at  Tetchwich  Farm. 

MARSTON,  NORTH. — Two  moats,  2  and  3  miles  west  of  the  village. 

MARSWORTH — Moat  at  Marsworth  Great  Farm. 

MISSENDEN,  GREAT. — Moat  at  Bury  Farm. 

MURSLEY. — Moat  to  the  south  of  the  village. 

OLNEY. — Moat  in  the  township  of  Warrington. 

PITSTONE. — Moat  inclosing  a  nearly  semicircular  space  at  Church 
Farm  (see  fig.  5). 

PRINCES  RISBOROUGH. — Fragment  of  moat  at  the  old  vicarage  ;  another 
adjacent  moat,  partly  dry,  but  originally  quadrangular,  called  '  The  Mount.' 

QUAINTON. — Moat,  possibly  once  quadrangular,  of  large  size,  at  Dod- 
dershall  House. 

QUARRENDON. — Two  moats  of  quadrangular  form. 

RAVENSTONE. — Remains  of  a  moat,  originally  of  some  importance. 

SHENLEY  CHURCH  END. — Moat  adjoining  the  rectangular  camp. 

SHERINGTON. — Nearly  quadrangular  moat  inclosing  manor-house. 

SIMPSON. — Moat  i  mile  south-east  of  church. 

SOULBURY. — Dry  moat  to  the  south  of  Liscombe  Park. 

STEWKLEY. — Moat  near  Stewkley  Church. 

STOKE  GOLDINGTON. — Dry  moat  at  Church  Farm  ;  also  a  nearly 
rectangular  moat,  with  entrance  on  west  side. 

STOKE  MANDEVILLE. — Moat  at  Moat  Farm. 

STOKE  POGES. — Moat  at  Ditton  Park. 

TATTENHOE. — Moat  near  church. 

WENDOVER. — Two  moats  2  miles  west  of  the  town. 

WESTON  TURVILLE. — Small  circular  moat  to  the  west  of  Weston  Manor 
House  ;  a  dry  moat  ;  small  fragment  of  moat  ;  and  another  moat  at  Manor 
Farm. 

WEXHAM. — Moats  of  irregular  forms  at  Wexham  Court. 

WING. — Traces  of  moat  at  Ascott  Hall. 

WOTTON  UNDERWOOD. — Moat  (fragments  of)  at  Moat  Farm. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  homestead  moats  of  Buckinghamshire,  which 
are  generally  of  square,  normal  shape,  in  many  cases  inclose  a  space  which  is 
associated  with  farmsteads  bearing  the  suggestive  appellations  of  manor 
farm,  moat  farm,  &c.  In  some  homestead  moats  in  the  county  one  may  find 
considerable  irregularity  of  shape,  a  circumstance  which  is  probably  due  to 
enlargement  or  modification  arising  from  the  amalgamation  of  several  adjacent 
inclosures. 

The  distribution  of  homestead  moats  in  Buckinghamshire,  as  elsewhere, 
is  largely  governed  by  the  presence  or  absence  of  water.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  some  abundance  in  the  valleys  and  low-lying  ground  in  the  middle 
and  northern  parts  of  the  county,  and  even  on  the  sides  of  the  Chilterns  and 
other  hills  up  to  about  400  ft.  above  ordnance  datum.  This  is  at  the  present 
time  much  above  the  level  where  water  usually  occurs,  but  probably  it  was 
not  so  when  the  homestead-moats  were  constructed. 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 

STRONG    DEFENSIVE   INCLOSURES 

(CLASS    G) 

An  earthwork  which  apparently  belongs  to  this  class  is  the  circular 
moat-like  work  which  incloses  Hawridge  Court. 

ANCIENT   VILLAGE   SITES 

(CLASS  H) 

There  is  an  important  inclosure,  once  stockaded,  which  may  be  placed 
in  this  class,  at  Hoggeston,  a  parish  in  the  north  of  the  county,  situated 
3$  miles  to  the  south-east  of  Winslow.  The  following  particulars  have  been 
very  kindly  furnished  by  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Tomlinson,  rector  of  Hoggeston. 

The  inclosure,  which  is  oblong  in  shape  with  rounded  corners,  is  of 
large  size,  measuring  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  east  to  west,  and  about 
one-eighth  part  of  a  mile  from  north  to  south.  The  inclosing  ditch  is  more 
pronounced  on  the  east  and  west  sides  than  on  the  north  and  south,  but  it  is 
quite  clearly  traceable  all  round.  Towards  the  north-east  corner  of  and 
within  the  inclosure  there  is  a  pond,  and  there  is  another  pond  on  the  south 
side,  and  still  another  close  to  the  eastern  ditch  on  the  outside.  The  church 
and  rectory  house  are  inside  the  inclosure. 

The  probability  is  that  this  was  an  original  settlement  in  the  Forest  of 
Bernwood,  entrenched  and  stockaded  as  a  defence  against  wild  beasts  and 
unfriendly  neighbours. 


MISCELLANEOUS    EARTHWORKS 

(CLASS  X) 

GREAT  MISSENDEN  :  EARTHWORKS  IN  BRAY'S  WOOD. — The  rectangular 
banks  of  which  these  works  consist  comprise  a  complete  square  inclosure 
with  an  imperfect  oblong  inclosure 
partly  surrounding  it,  but  lying 
mainly  to  the  west.  In  the  present 
condition  of  the  works  it  is  not 
possible  to  say  whether  the  three 
remaining  sides  of  the  oblong  were 
ever  completed  by  a  fourth  side  in 
such  a  way  as  entirely  to  surround 
the  square  work,  but  there  are  one 
or  two  points  which  seem  to  indicate 
that  such  was  not  the  case.  The 
probability  is  that  the  square  por- 
tion of  the  entrenchments  was 
constructed  for  the  protection  of  a 
dwelling-house  or  small  collection 
of  houses,  whilst  the  oblong  addition 


SCAUEOF  FECT 

100         200       300 


33 


CAMP  IN   BRAY'S  WOOD,  GREAT  MISSENDEN 

5 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

served  as  a  defence  for  the  outbuildings  and  cattle.  The  discovery 6  of 
fragments  of  Roman  pottery  and  remains  of  buildings  actually  inside  this 
square  inclosure  rather  confirms  this  view,  and,  although  suggesting  occupation 
of  the  spot  during  the  Roman  period,  by  no  means  precludes  the  possibility 
of  an  earlier  or  a  later  origin.  To  the  east  there  are  some  minor  works 
which  may  have  been  field  inclosures.  One  of  them  is  broken,  giving 
access  to  a  pond,  doubtless  for  the  benefit  of  cattle. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  condition  of  the  square  inclosure  in 
pre-historic  and  in  Roman  times,  it  is  known  that  in  much  later  days  a 
moated  house  was  built  upon  the  site,  and  early  in  the  nineteenth  century 
large  quantities  of  building  material,  flints,  &c.,  were  carted  away.  The 
whole  place  has  been  much  obscured  and  damaged  by  a  dense  growth  of 
forest  trees. 

Other  remains  of  miscellaneous  earthworks  which  may  be  mentioned 
are  (i)  the  defensive  works  of  Bolbeck  Castle  at  Whitchurch  ;  (2)  works  at 
Brill  near  the  church  ;  (3)  works  at  Ivinghoe  and  Pitstone  Hills  ;  and  (4) 
works  near  Great  Kimble  Church. 

There  is  a  roughly  square  entrenchment,  called  Grove  Bank,  2j  miles 
north-east  of  Chesham.  At  its  north-wrest  are  some  traces  of  walling,  as  if 
intended  for  a  castle,  but  now  levelled. 

At  Oving  there  is  a  circular  camp,  and  at  Medmenham  there  are  two 
works,  viz.  Danesditch  and  States  Farm  Camp. 

GRIMES  DYKE. — There  are  several  variations  in  the  popular  name  of  this 
important  earthwork  ;  Grymes,  Grymer's,  or  Grim's  Dyke  or  Ditch  being 
amongst  the  most  common.  Of  the  great  antiquity  of  the  work  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  It  is  mentioned  in  a  charter  of  the  time  of  Henry  III,  and  the 
important  place  it  occupies  in  local  folk-lore  is  sufficient  indication,  one  may 
imagine,  of  its  very  early  historic,  or  even  pre-historic,  antiquity.  The 
purpose  of  the  great  ditch  or  dyke  is  a  matter  of  some  uncertainty,  but 
it  seems  clear  that  it  should  be  included  in  this  account  of  the  ancient  earth- 
works of  Buckinghamshire,  through  which  county  it  runs. 

Grimes  Dyke  is,  as  its  name  suggests,  a  ditch  of  considerable  importance. 
It  consists  of  a  fosse  and  rampart  which,  in  certain  more  perfect  parts, 
measure  about  40  ft.  in  width  and  30  ft.  in  depth.  Its  course,  which  one 
writer  7  considers  to  be  its  main  feature,  runs  through  the  southern  part  of 
Buckinghamshire  along  the  Chiltern  Hills.  The  ditch  keeps  within  the 
platform  of  the  high  ground  of  the  hills.  It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  follow 
its  exact  course,  but  the  writer 8  just  referred  to,  who  evidently  had  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  district,  points  out  that  it  has  been  traced  from 
Bradenham,  whence  it  runs  in  bold  outline  through  the  woods  to  Lacey 
Green,  forming  the  boundary  of  the  parish  of  Princes  Risborough.  Thence, 
turning  at  an  angle,  it  maintains  its  conspicuous  course  by  Redland  End, 
through  Hampden  Park,  where,  again  turning  sharply  round,  it  runs  near 
Hampden  House,  and  onwards  towards  Great  Missenden.  Crossing  the 
valley  the  course  of  the  ditch  runs  near  King's  Ash,  in  Wendover  parish  ; 
then,  passing  through  woods  near  St.  Leonards,  it  continues  in  a  now  muti- 
lated state  over  Wigginton  Common,  and  is  met  with  in  full  preservation 

6  Rev.  W.  J.  Burgess,  Rec.  of  Bucks,  i,  171. 
'Ibid.  1,25.  8Op.  cit. 

34 


ANCIENT    EARTHWORKS 

above  Berkhampstead,  in  Hertfordshire.  Crossing  the  valley  northward  at  that 
point  it  stretches  over  Berkhampstead  Common  towards  Ashridge. 

The  purpose  of  Grimes  Dyke  is  a  question  which  has  exercised  the  minds 
and  imaginative  powers  of  many  people  in  different  periods.  Some  have 
wildly  suggested  that  '  Grim '  is  a  translation  of  Severus,  whilst  the  character 
of  the  name  itself  clearly  attributes  the  work  to  a  supernatural  origin. 
Another  theory  is  that  this  great  ditch  running  along  the  Chiltern  Hills 
served  as  a  line  of  embankments  to  connect  the  strongholds  of  West  Wycombe, 
Cholesbury,  and  other  camps  by  which  it  passes.  The  obvious  objec- 
tion to  this  explanation  is  that  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
defend  such  an  extremely  extended  bulwark  without  the  aid  of  an  armed 
force  which  was  entirely  out  of  the  question  at  the  time.  Again,  it  cannot 
have  been  constructed  for  a  roadway,  because  it  passes  over  hills  too  steep  for 
vehicles.  It  is  quite  certain  that  it  could  not  have  been  constructed  for 
purposes  of  fortification,  because  the  works  are  less  developed  on  low  ground 
than  they  are  on  steep  hills. 

It  seems  almost  certain  that  this  ancient  line  of  fosse  and  rampart  was 
intended  to  serve  as  a  boundary-mark,  separating  the  districts  occupied  by 
different  tribes  or  principalities.  It  is  clear,  too,  that  such  an  extensive  line 
of  earthworks  must  have  been  the  work  of  peaceable  times,  and  of  a  large 
combination  of  willing  hands.  Such  operations  as  these  would  have  been 
impossible  in  war-like  times,  and  in  the  presence  of  active  and  belligerent 


enemies.' 


Without  presuming  to  have  finally  settled  what  has  long  been  a  vexed 
question  amongst  antiquaries,  we  may  suggest  this  as  a  useful  working  theory. 
It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  future  discoveries  may  have  the  effect  of  proving 
quite  clearly  that  the  earthworks  were  made  for  another  purpose,  but  in  the 
meanwhile  the  boundary-mark  theory  seems  to  be  open  to  few  if  any 
objections. 

In  conclusion  the  writer  desires  to  express  his  thanks  for  valuable  assis- 
tance, particularly  in  reference  to  little-known  earthworks,  courteously  given 
by  Mr.  A.  Hadrian  Allcroft,  M.A.,and  Mr.  C.  Angell  Bradford,  F.S.A.,  and 
to  the  late  Mr.  I.  Chalkley  Gould,  F.S.A.,  for  kindly  reading  the  proofs  of 
this  article. 

*  Arch.  Journ.  xiv,  272-4. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC 

HISTORY 

*  "W"  T  is  true  of  this  County,  that  it  liveth  more  by  its  lands  than  by  its 
hands.     Such  the  fruitfulness,  venting  the  native  commodities  thereof 
at  great  rates  (thank  the  vicinity  of  London,  the  best  chapman),  that 
no  handicrafts  of  note,  save  what  are  common   to  other  counties,  are 
used  therein  excepting  any  will  instance  in   bone  lace,  much   thereof  being 
made  about  Owldney  in  this  county.'     This  description  of  Buckinghamshire 
in  Fuller's  Worthies  of  England1  sums  up  the  conditions  of  social  and  eco- 
nomic life  in  the  county  for  many  centuries.     Until  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  lace-making  was  extensively  carried  on,  the  population  was  occupied 
mainly  in  agriculture  and  those  trades  supplementary  to  it.     Corn-dealers, 
brewers,   butchers,   masons   and   men   employed    in    other    branches    of    the 
building  trades,  weavers  and  fullers,  tailors,  shoemakers,  and  hatters  are  the 
tradesmen  that  most  frequently  appear  in  the  county. 

The  county  is  divided  into  two  very  distinct  divisions  by  its  natural 
features.  In  the  Chiltern  districts  the  greater  proportion  of  the  land  is 
arable  and  well  wooded.  To  the  north  of  the  Chiltern  Hills  lies  the  Vale  of 
Aylesbury,  a  famous  pasture  country,  stretching  from  the  foot  of  the  Chilterns 
and  the  borders  of  Oxfordshire  to  the  western  boundary  of  Hertfordshire,  and 
on  the  north  as  far  as  Wingrave,  Wing,  and  Whitchurch,  though  the  country 
lying  beyond  is  sometimes  included  in  the  vale.  Leland '  describes  the  Vale 
as  being  '  cleane  barren  of  wood  and  is  champaine,'  and  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  its  pasture  was  mainly  used  for  sheep-farming,  but  later, 
and  at  the  present  day,  dairy-farming  has  been  found  far  more  profitable 
owing  to  the  great  demand  in  the  London  market. 

The  towns  of  Buckinghamshire  at  no  time  occupied  a  very  important 
place  in  the  economic  history  of  the  county.  In  the  Domesday  Survey 
Buckingham  was  the  only  borough  mentioned  separately,  though  a  few 
burgesses  were  found  on  the  manor  of  Newport.  Aylesbury  and  Wendover 
only  appear  as  manors  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  Wycombe  as  a  town  is 
not  mentioned  at  all.  In  the  Hundred  Rolls*  two  towns  are  mentioned, 
Newport  Pagnel  and  Wycombe,  but  they  were  held  as  parts  of  a  manor,  and 
paid  whatever  service  was  due  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.  Certain  privileges 
and  exemptions  were  claimed  at  Newport  Pagnel  :  no  hidage  was  paid,  and 
some  unspecified  payment  was  not  made  from  the  borough  because  the  bur- 
gesses had  no  land  except  'free  burgage.'  At  High  Wycombe  the  whole 

1  p.  193  (ed.  Nutttll).  '  I  tin.  iv. 

'  llund.  R.  (Rec.  Cora.),  i.     The  reference  to  Wycombe  is  for  a  grant  of  King  John. 

37 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

manor  had  been  held  by  King  John,  but  he  had  granted  it  away  in  two  parts, 
the  '  surburbum '  to  Robert  de  Vipont  and  the  whole  borough  to  Alan  Basset, 
who  paid  a  rent  of  £20  a  year. 

None  of  the  boroughs  in  the  county  were  incorporated  by  royal  charter 
until  the  sixteenth  century,  but  at  Chepping  Wycombe,  as  the  borough  is 
still  called,  a  fine  was  levied  between  the  lord  and  the  burgesses  in  1226  or 
1 2  27,*  and  was  confirmed  by  successive  kings.  The  burgesses  complained 
that  Alan  Basset  had  done  them  certain  damages  and  injuries  contrary  to  the 
liberties  which  they  held  of  the  ancestors  of  the  king,  and  Alan  granted  to 
them  the  whole  borough  and  town  of  Wycombe,  with  the  rents,  markets,  and 
fairs,  and  with  all  other  things  appertaining  to  a  free  borough.  Alan  reserved 
his  demesnes  and  lands  in  the  '  foreigns '  and  certain  privileges,  but  the  bur- 
gesses were  to  pay  the  rent  and  the  service  of  one  knight  due  to  the  king. 
In  1237-8  the  king  confirmed  this  fine,  with  a  slight  alteration  in  the  rent — 
the  fee-farm  of  the  burgesses  was  £30  and  I  mark  of  silver.  Alan  Basset 
had  also  the  right  to  take  tallage  in  the  borough  whenever  the  king  tallaged 
his  demesnes.  The  fine  was  also  confirmed  by  Edward  I  and  Henry  IV,  and 
took  the  place  to  a  certain  extent  of  a  royal  charter.  At  High  Wycombe  a 
ledger  has  been  preserved  in  which  the  important  orders  made  by  the  officers 
of  the  borough  were  entered  from  time  to  time. 

The  first  entry  was  made  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  mentions 
the  merchant  gild  and  the  officers  of  the  borough  : 

Every  son  and  heir  of  every  burgess  shall  have  the  liberty  of  the  Gild  of  Merchants  after 
the  death  of  his  father  by  hereditary  descent  according  to  the  custom  of  the  town,  and  gives 
10^.,  viz.  id.  to  the  mayor,  ^d.  to  the  clerk,  \d.  to  the  sub-bailiff,  8a.  to  the  gildans,  ^d.  to 
the  Master  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John. 

This  is  the  only  mention  of  the  merchant  gild  until  the  charter  of  Philip 
and  Mary,  and  at  this  time  its  membership  was  evidently  co-extensive  with 
the  number  of  burgesses.  The  chief  officers  were  the  mayor  and  bailiffs,  the 
sub-bailiff,  the  clerk,  and  the  gildans.  The  gildans  were  responsible  for  the 
management  of  the  market  and  the  preservation  of  the  trading  rights  of 
the  gild.  In  1316  an  order  was  issued  concerning  the  weavers  who  wished 
to  work  in  the  borough.  Previously  they  had  paid  \2d.  a  year  to  the 
gildans  for  every  loom  working,  but  this  was  remitted,  apparently  to 
encourage  weavers  to  settle  in  the  town.  The  order  was  made  in  '  plena 
magna  Gilda,'  but,  in  1313,  an  order  to  the  butchers  was  made  '  In  magna  et 
plena  curia  villate  de  Wycumb  de  unanimo  consensu  communitatis.'  At  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  similar  order  restraining  the  freedom  of  the 
corn-dealers  in  the  market  was  '  ordeyned  by  the  avys  of  the  sayd  mayre  and 
hes  brederne  with  th'  assent  and  grant  of  all  the  Broges  and  Commonoulties 
of  the  town  of  Wicombe  for  a  fast  and  staboll  Act.'  The  tribute  of  the 
corn-dealers  was  to  be  paid  to  the  bailiff  and  not  to  the  gildans,  and  probably 
the  merchant  gild  had  been  completely  identified  with  the  borough.  The 
mayor's  'brederne'  were  presumably  the  bailiffs.  In  1398  there  were  strict 
orders  that  no  one  of  any  condition  should  wander  about  the  town  after 
ten  o'clock  at  night  \,  if  anyone  was  found  out  of  doors  without  a  reasonable 
cause  he  might  be  seized,  punished,  and  detained  until  set  at  liberty  by  the 
mayor  and  commonalty. 

4  Feet  of  F.  Bucks.  10  Hen.  III. 
38 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  privileges  of  the  borough  court  were  also  closely  guarded  ;  the  pay- 
ment of  a  fine  or  imprisonment  was  the  punishment  for  a  burgess  impleading 
anyone  without  the  borough  unless  permission  had  been  obtained  from  the 
mayor. 

At  Aylesbury  there  are  no  records  at  all  before  the  sixteenth  century, 
but  no  sort  of  incorporation  was  effected  by  the  inhabitants.  In  1 500  '  the 
lord  of  the  manor  held  the  courts  as  for  an  ordinary  manor,  the  court-leet 
and  view  of  frankpledge  and  the  '  Curte,'  no  mention  being  made  of  bur- 
gesses or  of  a  borough  court  of  any  kind. 

Buckingham  was  a  borough  by  prescription,  though  it  never  sent 
members  to  Parliament  until  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the  fourteenth  *  cen- 
tury two  precepts  were  sent  to  the  borough  by  Edward  III  to  send  two 
representatives  to  a  council.  The  precepts  were  addressed  to  the  mayor  and 
two  bailiffs,  the  borough  officials.  In  a  court  roll7  in  1454—5  the  names  of 
the  courts  held  in  the  town  are  found.  The  '  Curia  Burgentum '  was  held 
once  in  the  year,  the  '  port  mot '  once  a  month,  but  the  entries  are  not 
enlightening  ;  in  the  former  two  men  made  default,  in  the  latter  there  were 
frequent  presentments  for  making  and  selling  bread  under  weight,  but  there 
are  no  entries  as  to  the  trade  or  government  of  the  town,  nor  is  there  any 
mention  of  the  merchant  gild  amongst  the  records  of  the  borough.8 

Wendover,  Amersham,9  and  Great  Marlow 10  sent  members  to  Parlia- 
ment in  the  reigns  of  Edward  I,  Edward  II,  and  Edward  III,  and  in 
consequence  obtained  incorporation  in  the  seventeenth  century  ;  but  they 
were  small  market  towns  of  little  importance.  Colnbrook ll  was  another 
market  town  that  was  incorporated  from  1544  to  1653.  At  different  times 
markets  were  held  in  thirty-seven  places  in  the  county,  besides  many  fairs  ; 
of  these  the  markets  of  Aylesbury,  Wycombe,  and  Buckingham  were  of 
great  importance.  The  tolls,  piccage,  and  stallage  dues  of  a  market  were  part 
of  the  perquisites  of  the  lord  of  the  manor  until  a  town  was  incorporated,  so 
that  only  at  Chepping  Wycombe  did  the  borough  control  and  receive  the 
profits  from  the  market. 

In  the  Domesday  Survey  the  county  was  divided  into  eighteen  hundreds 
or  districts  for  the  purposes  of  local  government,  but  some  time  before  1285'* 
they  were  consolidated  and  formed  into  six  groups,  each  containing  three  of 
the  old  divisions,  the  'Three  Hundreds'  of  Buckingham,  Newport,  Cottesloe, 
Ashendon,  Aylesbury,  and  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  of  Desborough,  Burnham, 
and  Stoke. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  this  county  the  king  retained  all  the  hundreds 
in  his  own  hand.  Hence  the  local  courts  were  held  by  the  sheriff,  the  chief 
royal  official  in  the  county,  and  through  him  the  king  received  the  ferm  of 
the  shire  and  other  dues. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  administrative  and  criminal  jurisdiction  being 
thus  controlled  by  the  officers  of  the  crown,  the  Hundred  Rolls  show  that  at 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  corruption,  oppression,  and  abuse  of  power 
were  rampant. 

•  Arch.  1.  93.  *  Browne  Willis,  Hut.  of  Buckingham,  41 

:  P.R.O.  Court  Rolls,  ptfo.  155-6. 

1  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  T.  R.  Hearn,  town  clerk  of  the  borough  of  Buckingham. 
'  Lipscomb,  Hut.  and  Antiq.  of  Biukt.  iii,  161.  "  Ibid.  597.  "  Ibid,  iv,  430-1. 

"  FeuJ.  Aids  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  89. 

39 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Bailiffs  and  sub-bailiffs  of  the  hundreds,  escheators  and  coroners,  with 
their  subordinates  all  exercised  their  different  offices  and  all,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest,  regarded  them  as  sources  of  personal  profit.  Various  inquisitions 
were  held  during  the  thirteenth  century  to  bring  to  light  all  such  irregularities. 

In  the  hundreds  of  Bonestowe,  Molesho,  and  Seggelawe,  the  sheriff  had 
gradually  raised  the  ferm  since  1265  from  IOQJ.  to  jTS,  and  the  hundreds  of 
Newport  had  suffered  a  similar  increase.  On  another  occasion  the  sheriff 
received  money  due  to  the  king,  gave  no  receipt  for  it,  and  never 
accounted  for  it  in  the  royal  exchequer.  Again,  he  exacted  a  fine  for  beau- 
pleader  at  Chicheley  which  was  not  due  from  the  township.  Whether  the 
sheriff  personally  or  the  king  was  the  gainer  in  this  case  does  not  appear. 
The  coroners  extorted  money  from  the  various  townships  when  they  came  to 
hold  inquests,  and  Elias  de  Eugaine,  a  bailiff,  imprisoned  a  man,  Hugh  son  of 
Hugh  by  name,  without  cause  and  held  him  in  durance  until  payment  of 
105^.  was  made. 

Bribery  was  also  rife  amongst  all  officials.  The  same  Elias  de  Eugaine, 
when  sheriff,  accepted  money  to  excuse  men  from  serving  on  inquest  ;  the 
coroners  and  bailiffs  took  bribes  from  different  places  to  conceal  crimes  committed 
within  their  boundaries,  and  to  connive  at  the  escape  of  prisoners  from  gaol. 

The  escheators  who  came  to  take  possession  of  the  lands  falling  in  to  the 
king,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  the  personal  gainers  by  the  irregularities 
practised,  but  the  heirs  of  the  last  tenants  suffered  in  many  ways  from  the 
wrongful  seizure  of  land. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  a  special  assize ls  was  held  by  the  itinerant 
justices  of  all  '  Oppressions  and  Extortions.'  The  sheriffs  and  bailiffs  were 
still  guilty  of  similar  offences,  but  a  prominent  place  was  given  to  irregu- 
larities in  the  collection  of  wool  granted  to  the  king.  The  collectors 
were  accused  of  refusing  to  give  receipts  for  wool  they  had  taken,  or  else  of 
weighing  it  falsely. 

To  gain  any  picture  of  the  social  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Buck- 
inghamshire in  the  Middle  Ages,  recourse  must  be  had  not  to  the  towns  but 
almost  exclusively  to  manorial  records,  for  the  manor  was  the  unit  around 
which  the  whole  local  life  of  the  country  revolved. 

The  manors  were  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of  lay  lords,  for  until 
the  twelfth  century  there  were  no  religious  houses  in  the  county  itself,  though 
a  few  manors  were  held  by  monasteries  outside  its  boundaries.14  Later  the 
foundations  were  numerous,  but  they  were  all  small  and  included  no  house  of 
the  first  importance.  In  consequence,  there  are  no  great  collections  of  docu- 
ments concerning  the  lands  and  tenants  of  the  monasteries,  which  elsewhere 
contribute  so  largely  to  the  materials  for  the  social  history  of  the  twelfth  and 
the  two  succeeding  centuries.  An  early  extent  of  the  manors  of  Missenden 
Abbey  for  the  fourteenth  century  exists,  and  similar  documents  for  one  or  two 
manors  which  were  temporarily  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  but  it  is  from  the 
court  rolls  and  ministers  accounts  of  lay  manors  for  the  most  part  that  all 
information  must  be  gathered.16 

11  Assize  R.  No.  74. 

"  The  abbot  of  St.  Albans  claimed  to  hold  Winslow  and  Horwood  by  a  charter  of  King  Offa  ;  Hund.  R. 
(Rec.  Com.),  i,  27. 

15  Few  of  the  court  rolls  or  accounts  date  back  to  the  thirteenth  century,  but  from  the  method  of  com- 
piling the  latter,  it  is  possible  to  obtain  information  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  actual  date  of  the  document. 

40 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  records  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  are  extremely  scanty, 
but  in  the  Chiltern  districts  and  the  Vale  of  Aylesbury  a  fairly  complete 
picture  of  local  organization  can  be  drawn. 

The  private  jurisdictions  which  existed  in  all  parts  of  England  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes,  the  franchises  of  regalities,  and  the  feudal 
rights  inherent  to  the  possession  of  a  manor  and  the  mere  fact  of  having 
tenants.  According  to  the  royal  theory  regalia  could  only  be  exercised  by  a 
subject  in  virtue  of  a  direct  grant  from  the  crown,  and  it  was  this  theory 
that  Edward  I  adopted  in  the  vigorous  '  Quo  Warranto '  inquiry.  Very  few 
lords  in  these  cases  could  show  a  definite  grant  of  regalia,  but  relied  on  the 
vague  words  of  the  old  charters  granting  '  sac  and  sok,  toll  and  theam  and 
infangfhief.'  In  entry  after  entry  in  the  Quo  Warranto  Rolls,1'  the  royal 
lawyers  declared  that  this  formula  only  gave  the  right  to  an  ordinary  manorial 
court  and  not  to  the  view  of  frankpledge.  Some  lords  too  could  not  even 
show  a  charter  at  all,  but  could  only  plead  their  prescriptive  right  to  hold  the 
view  of  frankpledge  and  other  royal  privileges,  the  most  common  of  which 
were  the  assize  of  bread  and  ale,  infangthief,  waifs  and  strays,  and  the  right 
to  hold  markets  and  fairs.  The  great  abbeys  and  barons  held  many  such 
franchises,  and  the  different  manors  belonging  to  the  great  tenants  in  chief  in 
some  cases  formed  an  '  honour.'  The  earl  of  Gloucester  held  the  honour  of 
Giffard,"  of  which  Crendon  was  the  chief  manor,  and  lands  in  the  county 
were  parcel  of  the  honours  of  Dudley,  Peverel,  Toctesburg,  Chester,  Berk- 
hampstead,  and  Wallingford,  the  last  being  in  the  hands  of  the  earl  of  Corn- 
wall, brother  of  the  king.  Honour  courts  are  not  definitely  mentioned  in 
the  hundred  rolls  except  for  the  honour  of  Peverel. 

The  most  important  franchises  were  held  by  the  abbot  of  St.  Albans  and 
by  the  lords  of  the  honours  of  Wallingford  and  Peverel.  The  abbot  at 
Winslow  and  Horwood  had  '  all  liberties,  pleas  of  replevin,  and  the  return  of 
writs,'  and  the  earl  of  Cornwall  had  the  same  franchises  in  the  manors  of  the 
honour  of  Wallingford,  but  in  the  honour  of  GifFard  the  return  of  writs  was 
not  granted,  and  thus  the  sheriff  and  his  officers  were  not  excluded  from  the 
carl  of  Gloucester's  lands. 

At  Fawley  William  de  Valence  held  all  the  pleas  belonging  to  the 
sheriff,  and  the  abbot  of  Westminster  held  the  manor  of  Denham  with  '  all 
liberties  and  regalia  '  by  charter. 

The  great  majority  of  lords  did  not  possess  the  important  franchises,  but 
a  view  of  frankpledge  was  held  so  universally  that  at  one  time  it  must  have 
been  regarded  as  a  manorial  right  rather  than  as  a  royal  jurisdiction.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  small  payments  were  made  by  some  lords  for  this  right 
to  the  sheriff  or  bailiff  of  the  hundred. 

The  feudal  lords  held  the  view  of  frankpledge  for  their  men,  with- 
drawing their  suit  from  the  sheriff's  view,  and  making  their  manorial  court 
a  court  for  the  presentment  of  offences  against  the  peace.  The  jury  of 
twelve  freeholders  was  continually  dispensed  with  ;  probably  on  many 
manors  it  could  not  be  obtained,  but  in  spite  of  this  the  lord  still  held 
his  view.  Thus  at  Kingsey,  Cippenham,  and  Eton,  for  instance,  in  the 
fourteenth  century  only  the  tithing-men  made  presentments.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  Fawley  courts,  the  twelve  free  jurors  were  regularly  called 

u  Plac.  de  Quo  tTarranto  for  Bucb.  "  HtaiJ.  R.  (Rcc.  Com.),  i. 

2  41  6 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

together  and  made  a  separate  presentment.  Generally  they  merely  said  that 
everything  was  well,  but  occasionally  some  concealed  offence  was  presented 
by  them.  The  business  of  the  court  was  a  review  of  the  tithings  and  the 
presentment  of  offences  against  the  peace.  For  certain  offences  the  lord 
himself  levied  fines.  He  thus  was  responsible  for  the  condition  of  the  roads, 
and  dealt  with  encroachments  and  poaching.  If  he  also  held  other  franchises, 
such  as  the  assizes  of  bread  and  ale,  and  waifs  and  strays,  the  numerous 
offenders  were  presented  at  the  view  of  frankpledge,  and  finally  the  tithing- 
men  gave  a  fine  to  the  lord  de  certo  from  their  tithings. 

The  view  of  frankpledge  was  afterwards  called  the  court-leet  of  the 
manor.  The  name  was  used  once  at  Fawley,  in  I377,18  but  afterwards  the 
older  designation  of  the  court  reappeared.  In  1500  there  was  a  court-leet 
at  Aylesbury,  but  at  Wingrave  the  name  had  not  been  introduced  sixty  years 
later. 

Besides  the  jurisdiction  originating  in  a  grant  from  the  crown  the  lord 
of  a  manor  had  the  right,  inherent  to  the  possession  of  a  manor,  to  hold  a 
court  for  his  tenants,  both  free  and  customary. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  there  was  no  trace  of  any  divisions  of  courts 
for  the  two  classes  of  tenants.  At  that  time  the  free  tenants  had,  when 
possible,  withdrawn  their  suit,  and  the  service  was  specially  noted  in  their 
charters  if  it  was  to  be  exacted.  It  was,  however,  extremely  difficult  to 
enforce  the  attendance  of  the  more  important  tenants,  and  a  long  list  of 
absent  free  tenants  continually  began  the  business  of  the  court,  although  the 
lord  could  distrain  their  goods  for  default.  For  the  customary  tenants  on 
the  other  hand  the  manorial  court  was  the  only  court  of  justice.  The  suits 
between  tenants  were  so  numerous  as  to  suggest  that  litigation  was  one  of 
the  few  excitements  in  an  otherwise  monotonous  life.  The  chief  actions 
were  for  debt  and  trespass,  and  were  decided  by  the  verdict  of  recognitors. 
Pledges  for  appearance  and  fines  for  non-appearance  in  these  suits  were  levied 
by  the  lord,  so  that  the  perquisites  of  the  court  were  a  valuable  asset. 

At  Kingsey,19  for  instance,  Thomas  Chapman  summoned  William  de 
Aston  to  recover  a  debt  of  js.  William  denied  that  he  owed  the  money,  and 
put  himself  '  at  law.'  He  was,  however,  unable  to  find  the  necessary  pledges, 
and  so  was  held  to  be  convicted  of  the  debt,  which  Thomas  was  to  recover, 
with  damages  to  the  same  amount. 

In  another  case  Henry  le  Webbe  accused  John  le  Cornmonger  and  his 
wife  Isabella  of  having  harboured  the  son  of  the  Cornmonger  after  he  had 
killed  a  pig  belonging  to  the  plaintiff,  worth  %d.  The  plea  failed,  however, 
since  John  and  Isabella  were  not  held  to  be  responsible,  and  Henry  was  fined 
for  making  a  false  accusation. 

In  other  cases  the  plaintiffs  came  to  terms  before  the  end  of  the  suit, 
and  paid  a  fine  to  the  lord  for  leave  to  make  a  formal  agreement. 

Cases  of  disputed  inheritance  of  customary  land  were  brought  to  the 
lord's  court  and  settled  by  the  evidence  of  the  suitors.  All  grants  of  lands, 
both  free  and  customary,  were  recorded  in  the  Court  Rolls,  in  the  latter  case 
the  actual  transfer  of  the  land  being  made  in  court,  while  fines  and  dues  were 
also  paid  to  the  steward  in  the  same  place. 

Lastly,  fines  were  exacted  in  punishment  of  all  encroachments  on  the 

"  B.M.  Add.  R.  27029,  rot.  2,  i.  «•  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  15. 

42 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

lord's  rights.  The  presentments  of  the  hayward  for  trespass  in  the  meadows, 
for  instance,  were  accepted  apparently  without  any  trial,  and  the  offenders 
fined.  An  entry  in  a  roll  at  Kingsey  20  suggests,  however,  that  the  tenants 
had  some  control  over  the  amount  of  the  fines. 

Omnes  tenentes  tarn  liberi  (quam)  nativi  consensierunt  quod  si  aliquis  eorum  convincatur 
super  dampno  facto  cum  animalibus  suis  in  prato  de  Suthmcd,  nisi  quibus  dc  suo  proprio, 
quod  dabunt  domine  6d.  nomine  pene. 

At  Fawley"  a  distinction  was  made  in  the  presentment  of  different 
offences.  In  questions  concerning  land  if  any  point  was  put  to  the 
suitors  for  evidence  the  presentment  was  made  by  the  whole  homage,  but  on 
other  occasions  the  presentment  was  made  only  by  the  bondsmen  in  matters 
that  affected  none  but  the  unfree  suitors  of  the  court. 

The  manor  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  may  be  regarded 
as  an  independent  community,  very  nearly  self-supporting,  having  little 
communication  with  other  places  outside  its  immediate  neighbourhood.  Its 
population  was  almost  entirely  agricultural,  but  in  spite  of  the  similarity  of 
occupation  there  was  a  remarkable  difference  of  status  between  the  members 
of  the  community  ;  in  each  manor  some  of  the  inhabitants  were  freemen, 
others  were  serfs  or  bondsmen,  described  in  the  Latin  of  the  time  as  nativi 
domini  or  villani. 

These  latter  were  probably  in  the  majority  on  most  of  the  Buckingham- 
shire manors,  but  exceptions  were  to  be  found.  At  Beaumond,"  a  very  small 
manor  in  Little  Missenden,  the  list  of  tenants  in  1333  comprised  eleven 
freemen  and  six  bondsmen,  but  earlier  the  number  of  bondsmen  may  have 
been  larger,  since  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  class  was  already  diminishing. 
This  difference  of  status  had  its  counterpart  in  the  system  of  land  tenure. 

Within  the  manor  the  land  was  divided  into  two  parts,  one  of  which, 
the  demesne,  was  generally  cultivated  by  the  lord  or  his  steward  for  the 
maintenance  of  himself  and  his  household,  while  the  other  was  granted  to 
different  tenants.  Some  of  these  tenants  held  freely  and  some  in  villeinage, 
and  the  distinction  in  tenure  as  a  rule  corresponded  to  the  distinction  in 
status,  but  exceptions  were  to  be  found,  though  not  as  a  rule  until  the  personal 
disabilities  of  a  villein  were  disappearing.  At  Fawley  the  parson,  a  freeman, 
held  a  tenement  in  villeinage,  for  the  services  tended  to  become  inherent 
upon  the  tenements  apart  from  their  tenants.  The  free  tenants  of  a  manor 
were  bound  to  their  lord  in  two  ways  :  there  was  the  personal  tie  created  by 
the  performance  on  entry  into  their  land  of  homage  and  fealty,  by  which 
they  became  the  '  men  '  of  their  lord,  and  also  the  relation  created  by  the 
grant  of  the  land  in  return  for  money  or  service. 

The  different  kinds  of  free-tenure  were  entirely  unconnected  with  the 
size  and  importance  of  the  tenement,  and  their  characteristics  were  the  same 
for  a  great  baron  and  for  the  humblest  freeholder  within  a  manor.  From 
the  Conquest  the  right  in  all  land  emanated  from  a  grant  from  the  crown, 
but  the  tenants  in  chief  might  grant  their  land  to  sub-tenants,  so  that  there 
might  be  many  lords  between  the  king  and  the  man  in  actual  seisin  of  a 
piece  of  land. 

"  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  ijs,  No.  15,  m.  8.  "  B.M.  Add.  R.  27027. 

"  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  *. 

43 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

In  Buckinghamshire  the  most  common  form  of  tenure  in  chief  was 
tenure  by  military  service,  the  tenant  holding  his  land  in  return  for  provid- 
ing so  many  knights  to  serve  in  the  royal  army.  In  1 166  23  a  full  return  was 
made  of  the  number  of  knights  due  from  the  land  of  the  military  tenants  in 
chief,  each  of  whom  had  enfeoffed  the  majority  of  his  knights.  Thus  Earl 
Walter  GifFard  held  no  land  in  demesne  (for  which  he  would  have  to  supply 
knights  to  the  king's  army)  within  the  county,  all  his  quota  of  service  having 
been  distributed  among  ninety-six  knights,  and  these  knights  did  service  for 
their  land  which  they  held  of  him.  The  size  of  these  grants  was  very  various, 
for  Hugh  Bolebec  owed  the  earl  the  service  of  twenty  knights,  and  Geoffrey 
the  son  of  William  twenty-six  knights,  but  others  had  only  to  provide  half  the 
service  due  from  one  knight.  In  other  cases,  however,  part  of  the  land  alone 
had  been  granted  away  ;  William  Malduit  thus  provided  four  and  a  half 
knights  from  his  demesne,  depending  most  probably  on  the  service  of  members 
of  his  household,  and  when  that  was  not  available  employing  hired  soldiers, 
for  the  word  miles  at  this  time  meant  little  more  than  a  mounted  soldier. 

A  tenure  in  many  ways  akin  to  military  service  was  that  of  serjeanty  ; 
it  was  called  grand  serjeanty  when  the  tenant  held  of  the  king,  and  petty 
serjeanty  when  he  held  of  a  mesne  lord.  The  tenant  in  serjeanty  performed 
some  specially  personal  service  for  his  lord,  and  in  grand  serjeanty  he  could 
alienate  no  part  of  his  land  without  leave.  Several  such  tenancies  were  found 
in  Buckinghamshire.  At  '  Aston  and  Ilmire  '  **  John  son  of  Bernard  held  of 
the  king  by  the  serjeanty  of  keeping  his  hawks  ;  Thomas  son  of  Bernard  2t 
held  i  oo  solidatae  of  land  by  the  serjeanty  marescancie  accepitrum  domini  regis. 
The  most  interesting  example,  however,  was  at  Aston  Clinton.  The  manor 
was  held  by  William  de  Montagu 26  in  grand  serjeanty,  but  under  the 
previous  lord  much  of  the  land  had  been  alienated  to  tenants  who  paid  him 
a  money  rent.  This  had  been  done  without  the  king's  licence,  and  when 
Robert S7  Passelewe  was  sheriff  part  of  this  rent  was  recovered  to  the  king 
and  was  paid  through  the  lord  of  the  manor.  The  demesne  land  of  the 
manor  had,  however,  undergone  another  change,  being  held  by  military 
tenure  by  the  service  of  one  knight  ;  but  so  late  as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  K 
the  tenants  were  still  paying  their  rent  under  the  name  of  serjeanty. 

On  the  foundation  of  monastic  houses  the  donors  as  a  rule  granted  their 
lands  in  '  frankalmoin,'  i.e.  a  tenure  for  which  the  grantee  did  spiritual 
service  only.  The  most  common  service  performed  was  that  of  praying  for 
the  souls  of  the  grantor  and  his  ancestors.  By  an  inquisition  the  monastery 
of  Biddlesden  29  was  said  to  hold  all  its  lands  in  frankalmoin,  but  not  all  the 
houses  were  so  fortunate.  When  land  was  held  by  military  service  or 
serjeanty,  the  abbot  himself  was  responsible  for  its  performance  and  the  lands 
were  distinguished  as  the  abbot's  temporalities.  The  abbot  of  Missen,denso 
thus  held  land  at  Aston  Clinton  by  serjeanty  ;  at  Kimble  he  held  20  hides  of 
land  by  military  service. 

Lastly,  freehold  land  was  held  by  common  socage,  that  is,  a  money 
rent  was  paid  by  the  tenant.  The  older  monastic  feoffments  were  often  made 

n  Cartae  Baronum,  Black  Bk.  of  Exch.  "  Hmd.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  25. 

K  Ibid.  27.  K  Hund  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  20.  "  Testa  de  Nevill  (Rec   Com.),  256,  257. 

18  P  R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  Edw.  VI.  w  Harl.  MS.  84,  £.31. 

K  Hund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  20,  31. 

44 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

in  common  socage.  The  prior  of  St.  Frideswide's,'1  at  Oxford,  held  Upper 
Winchendon  of  the  king  by  ancient  feoffment  for  the  sum  of  £20  a  year. 
The  abbot  of  St.  Albans  held  land  in  Oving,"  paying  5  marks  a  year,  but 
the  jurors,  when  the  inquisition  was  taken,  stated  that  no  one  remembered 
the  origin  of  the  grant.  Lay  lords  of  manors  holding  for  a  money  rent  are 
also  to  be  found.  Alan  Basset  held  half  of  Wycombe,  including  the  borough, 
for  2OJ.  a  year,  and  Towersey  was  also  held  by  socage  in  chief  of  the  king. 
Socage  tenure  was,  however,  most  usually  found  amongst  the  smaller  free- 
holders in  a  manor,  and  often  a  few  agricultural  services  were  also  performed 
for  the  lord  ;  the  tenant  did  fealty  and  suit  at  the  manorial  court. 

The  status  of  a  villein  brought  with  it  many  disabilities,  but  the  con- 
ditions described  in  the  law-books"  of  the  time  seem  to  have  been  much 
mitigated  in  practice.  At  Ilmer,  in  a  survey  taken  of  the  manor  in  1337—8,** 
there  is  a  list  of  the  most  important  burdens  laid  on  a  villein.  He  might  be 
elected  to  the  office  of  reeve  ;  on  his  death  his  lord  received  the  best  four- 
legged  beast  or  the  produce  of  the  best  half-acre  of  his  land  chosen  by  the 
lord  in  place  of  the  beast.  His  son  could  not  be  clerked  nor  his  daughter 
married  without  his  lord's  consent.  He  might  not  sell  his  horse  or  ox,  nor 
leave  the  fee  of  his  lord  without  permission  ;  for,  in  the  language  of  Bracton 
the  chief  legal  commentator  of  the  thirteenth  century,  he  was  asc riptus  glebae. 
That  these  restrictions  were  fully  enforced  the  Court  Rolls  of  different  manors 
afford  abundant  evidence.  At  Kingsey  s*  a  man  was  presented  at  the  court 
and  fined  for  having  sold  his  beast  without  leave.  In  theory  all  the  posses- 
sions used  by  a  villein  were  said  to  belong  to  his  lord,  but  in  practice  he  was 
recognized  as  an  owner  of  property,  since  instances  occur  of  a  villein  buying 
his  freedom  of  his  lord.  At  Kingsey  there  is  the  following  entry  at  a  court 
held  in  1317— 18, '  Et  predicta  Elena  dat  domine  los.  pro  se  et  sequela s*  sua 
a  servitute  liberanda  .  .  .  .' 

The  legal  disabilities  of  a  villein  were  also  very  great,  since  the  royal 
courts  only  recognized  his  existence  through  his  lord  ;  and,  except  in  the  case 
of  danger  to  his  life  or  limb,  he  had  no  remedy  against  any  act  of  his  lord. 
The  Assize  Rolls87  of  the  itinerant  justices  continually  contain  cases  of  land 
suits  being  dismissed  because  one  of  the  litigants  was  of  servile  condition, 
owing  to  his  descent  from  villein  ancestors. 

Up  to  this  point  the  disabilities  enumerated  all  resulted  from  the  personal 
status  of  the  villein,  but  they  were  even  more  stringent  with  regard  to  his 
land.  Various  classes  amongst  the  tenants  in  villeinage  were  to  be  found,  but 
the  terms  of  their  tenure  were  all  of  the  same  type  ;  unlike  the  free  tenants 
they  were  distinguished  from  one  another  by  the  amount  of  land  attached  to 
the  different  tenements.  Generally  there  were  two  main  classes — the  cus- 
tomary tenants  and  the  cottagers.  The  latter  appear  under  various  names  in 
Latin,  the  most  common  being  cotterelli  and  cottarii,  but  all  refer  to  the  lowest 
class  of  tenants. 

There  seem  to  be  no  records  in  Buckinghamshire  which  show  how  these 
two  classes  developed  from  those  found  in  the  Domesday  manors.  In  the 

11  llund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  27.  "  Ibid.  23. 

*  Cf.  Bracton.     Extracts  in  Digby's  History  of  tht  Lam  tf  Real  Properly. 

"  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  79.  "  PRO.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  16. 

"  Ibid.  No.  1  5.  *  Assize  R.  Bucks.  54. 

45 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

eleventh  century  there  were  generally  sokemen,  who  often  might  leave  or  sell 
their  land  at  pleasure,  '  villeins,'  '  bordars,'  '  cottars,'  and  '  serfs.'  In  the 
earliest  thirteenth-century  records38  only  villeins  and  cottagers  are  to  be 
found,  the  other  classes  having  entirely  disappeared.  A  fairly  numerous 
class  of  small  freeholders  had  arisen,  developed  apparently  from  the  sokemen 
and  some  of  the  Domesday  villeins. 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  the  villein  tenements  were  held 
at  the  will  of  the  lord,  and  in  the  latter  period  also  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  manor.  Each  tenement  was  granted  in  full  court  to  the  new  tenant  by 
the  lord  or  steward,  some  outward  token  passing  from  hand  to  hand.39  The 
rent  and  services  were  agreed  upon,  but  the  tenant  had  no  other  security 
against  ejection  or  the  demand  for  increased  services  than  the  custom  of  the 
manor.  None  of  the  royal  writs  and  assizes,  which  protected  the  freeholder, 
could  be  used  by  a  villein  to  recover  possession  of  his  land.  In  practice, 
however,  the  rents,  fines,  and  services  in  each  manor  were  fixed — all  tenants 
of  the  same  size  of  holdings  performed  the  same  services,  and  no  change 
took  place  in  them  year  after  year — for  it  was  of  no  advantage  to  the  lord, 
who  depended  on  his  tenants'  labour,  to  make  the  terms  of  their  tenure 
impossible. 

One  of  the  most  usual  forms  of  grant  for  customary  land  is  to  be  found 
continually  in  the  Fawley  Court  Rolls.  A  messuage  and  tenement  were 
granted  to  a  man,  his  wife,  and  his  son,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  manor, 
a  heriot  being  taken  on  the  death  of  each  of  them. 

At  other  times  customary  tenements  were  practically  hereditary  ;  at 
Ilmer40  the  eldest  son  possessed  the  tenement  in  which  his  father  died  on 
payment  of  a  fine,  and  subject  to  the  widow's  interest.  The  tenement,  of 
course,  still  had  to  be  surrendered  into  the  lord's  hand,  but  custom  decreed 
that  the  son  should  have  it  back  on  payment  of  a  fine  for  entry. 

The  tenant  in  villeinage  could  not  demise  or  sell  his  land  without  leave. 
In  a  roll"  of  1331  at  Westcott,  Richard  Audren  was  fined  for  having  demised 
his  land  at  firm  without  his  lord's  consent.  A  few  years  later  Thomas 
Benhul  43  had  exchanged  i  acre  of  land  for  another,  and  it  was  ordered  that 
the  land  should  be  seized  into  the  lord's  hand. 

The  new  tenant  in  some  manors  did  fealty  to  the  lord,*8  though  in  theory 
this  was  only  due  from  free  tenants. 

Generally  the  widow  of  a  villein  was  entitled  to  the  whole  of  his  tene- 
ment for  life  on  payment  of  the  heriot  ;  this  was  called  her  'free-bench,'44 
but  the  phrase  does  not  appear  frequently.  At  Ilmer  *°  she  held  the  whole 
tenement  only  so  long  as  she  remained  a  widow  ;  on  her  re-marriage  she  was 
entitled  to  have  a  house  and  4  acres  of  land  of  the  second-best  quality  in  the 
tenement  in  place  of  her  '  dower.'  '  Dower,'  properly  speaking,  was  only  used 
in  connexion  with  freehold,  but  the  similarity  of  the  conditions  led  to  the  misuse 
of  the  term  in  reference  to  a  villein  tenement.  The  similarity,  indeed,  was 
so  great  that  at  Beaumond45  the  widow  of  a  villein  had  a  customary  right  to 
one-third  only  of  her  husband's  land,  the  regular  rule  for  a  tenement  held  by 
knight's  service.  In  a  few  manors  another  kind  of  tenancy  existed — that  of 

38  Inq.  Hen.  Ill,  passim.        39  B.M.  Add.  R.  27030.  ""  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  79. 

41  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  28.  «lbid.  no.  28,  m.  7. 

43  B.M.  Add.  R.  27026.         "  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  15.          46  Ibid.  No.  2. 

46 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

the  sokemen  of  the  ancient  demesne.  Those  manors  which  were  in  the 
hand  of  the  king  in  Domesday  Book  were  known  as  the  ancient  demesne  of 
the  crown,  and  always  preserved  certain  characteristics  which  never  obtained 
in  later  acquisitions  of  crown  property.  In  Buckinghamshire  there  were 
only  six  such  manors,  Aylesbury,  Brill,  Wendover,  Swanbourne,  Princes 
Risborough,  and  Upton  ;  but  amongst  the  tenants  there,  as  in  other  counties, 
a  special  class  of  privileged  villeins  arose.  Their  fines  were  fixed  and  also 
their  services,  and,  still  more  important,  a  special  writ,  the  Little  Writ  of 
Right  Close,  ran  in  the  court  of  the  Exchequer,  by  which  they  could  sue  in 
the  royal  courts  for  their  tenements.  In  the  thirteenth  century  at  Bierton,** 
a  manor  appendant  to  Aylesbury,  certain  tenants  were  summoned  to  answer 
an  assize  of  novel  disseisin  before  the  itinerant  justices,  but  they  pleaded  with 
success  that  they  could  only  be  sued  by  their  special  writ,  being  tenants  of 
the  ancient  demesne.  These  rights  were  continued  even  after  the  manor  was 
granted  away  from  the  crown,  since  Aylesbury  and  Bierton  were  then  held 
by  the  descendants  of  Geoffrey  FitzPeter.47 

The  references  to  the  later  history  of  the  sokemen  of  the  ancient  demesne 
are  rare,  but  such  tenancies  can  be  traced.  At  Brill,  in  1254,**  there  were 
33  virgates  of  land  held  in  chief  of  the  king,  each  of  which  paid  an  annual 
rent  of  5^.,  and  performed  five  days'  specified  customary  work.  This  in  all 
probability  was  the  sokemen's  land,  for  the  tenements  and  services  of  ordinary 
villeins  would  not  have  been  mentioned,  and  the  exact  similarity  in  the  rent 
and  services  due  from  each  virgate  would  scarcely  occur  in  freehold. 

At  Aylesbury,*' in  1517,  a  Court  Roll  has  been  preserved  in  which  the 
suitors  declare  '  that  all  londes  and  tenements  holdyn  of  the  said  manor  within 
the  manor  and  lordshypp  afor  ....  as  well  charter  as  copyhold  to  be 
ympleted  be  writt  of  ryght  clos  after  the  custom.  .  .  .' 

At  Princes  Risborough  the  fines  paid  in  1 323-4 M  certainly  suggest 
that  their  amount  was  fixed  ;  twice  over  31.  was  paid  on  entry  to  a  tenement 
and  6s.  for  maritagium,  but  no  more  details  are  given  for  other  years.  As  late 
as  the  seventeenth"  century,  however,  the  copyholders,  who  were  then  the 
only  kind  of  customary  tenants  remaining,  claimed  that  the  manor  had  always 
been  reputed  to  be  ancient  demesne.  The  fine  on  death  or  alienation  was 
declared  to  be  fixed  at  the  rate  of  two  years'  quit-rent  or  old  accustomed  rent, 
which  had  been  zs.  a  year. 

Another  kind  of  tenancy  was  to  be  found  on  the  manors  of  Langley 
Marish "  and  Cippenham,"  in  the  hundred  of  Stoke.  A  class  of  tenants 
called  '  gavelmen  '  are  mentioned  in  the  ministers'  accounts  at  both  places, 
but  there  is  no  clue  to  their  exact  status.  Probably  the  men  held  their  land 
by  a  tenure  on  the  border-line  between  freehold  and  villeinage,  but  the  only 
definite  statement  classes  them  amongst  the  customary  tenants,  though  their 
services  were  very  slight. 

The  terms  of  tenure,  whether  free  or  villein,  within  the  manor  were 
closely  connected  with  the  system  of  agriculture  generally  known  as  the 
three-field  system.  The  arable  land  was  divided  into  three  large  open  fields, 

*  Assize  R.  1 188.  "  Chart.  R.  5  John,  pt.  117,  mm.  6,  7  ;  Chan.  Inq.  p.m.  *$  Edvr.  I,  50*. 

-  Hund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  34.  "  Arch.  \.  98.  "  P.R.O.  Min».  Accu.  bdle.  761,  No.  13. 
"  Exch.  Dcp.  Mich.  26  Chas.  II,  No.  46  ;  Mich.  29  Chts.  II,  No.  18. 

"  P.R.O.  Mint.  Accu.  bdle.  761,  No.  17.  "  Ibid.  bdle.  760,  No.  4. 

47 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

in  which  each  tenant  had  so  many  strips  according  to  the  size  of  his  tene- 
ment, and  the  demesne  land  of  the  lord  lay  mixed  with  that  of  his  tenants. 
The  rule  of  cultivation,  each  field  lying  fallow  in  rotation  every  third  year, 
was  also  followed  by  him.  At  Ilmer M  in  1337—8  the  demesne  lands  were 
divided  in  the  following  manner  : — 

The  prima  sehona  contained  35  acres,  I  rod,  iaf  perches  of  land,  and  was  sown  with  corn. 
The  secunda  sehona  contained  62  acres,  I  rod,  34^  perches,  and  was  sown  with  beans  and  peas. 
The  tertia  seisana  contained  57  acres,  3  rods,  n£  perches,  which  lay  fallow. 

They  were  evidently  scattered  amongst  the  tenants'  land,  and  it  is 
obvious  that  this  division  of  the  fields  necessitated  a  system  of  cultivation 
carried  out  by  all  who  held  strips  in  the  field.  The  interdependence  of  the 
lord  and  his  tenants  in  the  cultivation  of  the  manor  is  clearly  shown  in 
Domesday  Book,  by  the  careful  enumeration  of  the  villeins'  ploughs,  as  well 
as  of  those  belonging  to  the  demesne.  The  three-field  system  in  itself  had 
no  connexion  with  the  manor  ;  but  in  Buckinghamshire,  as  in  the  greater 
part  of  the  country,  the  tenants  of  the  manor  also  formed  a  self-sufficing 
agricultural  community. 

Each  tenement  in  a  manor,  as  a  rule,  contained  a  messuage,  arable  land, 
and  meadow,  with  common  right  in  the  pastures  and  woods.  The  size  of 
a  tenement,  when  given,  generally  refers  to  the  arable  land  only,  so  that  if 
a  man  was  described  as  holding  J  virgate  of  land,  this  would  only  refer  to  his 
share  in  the  open  fields  of  the  manor. 

In  the  greater  part  of  Buckinghamshire  the  land  was  divided  into  hides 
and  virgates.  The  tenants  were  generally  classed  according  to  the  parts  of 
a  virgate  that  they  held,  and  virgatarius  and  semi-virgatarius  are  the  names 
found  on  several  manors,  while  at  Ilmer  quationarius  also  appears.  The  cottarii 
were  smaller  tenants,  who  held  little  or  no  arable  land  in  the  common  fields, 
but  only  a  curtilage  or  garden. 

The  cultivation  of  the  demesne  land  was  originally  carried  out  by  the 
customary  tenants,  for  the  performance  of  agricultural  labour  was  the  condi- 
tion attached  to  their  tenure.  The  villeins  and  cottars  worked  for  their  lord 
a  definite  number  of  days  in  the  week,  as  well  as  special  boon-days  at  harvest 
and  other  important  seasons.  The  amount  and  kind  of  work  varied  in  every 
manor,  and  in  theory  was  regulated  entirely  at  the  will  of  the  lord,  but  in 
practice  it  varied  but  little  during  a  long  period  of  years,  and  was  fixed  by 
the  custom  of  each  manor. 

At  the  opening  of  the  fourteenth  century  a  great  revolution  in  manorial 
economy  was  taking  place.  Instead  of  performing  the  actual  services,  the 
villeins  commuted  them  for  a  money  payment,  and  the  lord  cultivated  his 
demesne  by  wage-paid  labourers.  The  week-work  was  commuted  much 
earlier  than  the  boon-work,  for  naturally  the  right  to  a  supply  of  extra 
labour  at  specially  important  times  was  a  privilege  of  great  value  to  the  lord, 
while  the  week-work  was  inconvenient  to  both  lord  and  tenant. 

In  the  ministers'  accounts,  however,  the  services  are  still  given,  as  well 
as  their  equivalent  money  value,  so  that  the  older  state  of  affairs  before  com- 
mutation took  place  is  shown.  The  customary  tenants  worked  so  many  days 
a  week,  at  any  work  to  which  they  might  be  set. 

"  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  79. 

48 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

In  Ditton "  there  were  six  customary  tenants  who  worked,  from  the 
last  day  of  May  to  i  August,  every  Monday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  ;  in 
autumn  they  worked  every  day  except  Saturday,  but  in  both  seasons  feast- 
days  and  vigils  were  holidays.  At  Cippenham  "  the  smaller  tenants  worked 
for  the  lord  every  other  day  in  the  winter  half-year,  but  not  in  Christmas, 
Easter,  and  Whitsun  weeks  ;  in  summer  they  worked  every  day  in  the  week 
for  the  space  of  five  weeks  and  a  day.  The  whole  list  of  services  is  very 
characteristic  of  the  duties  inherent  in  servile  tenure.  There  were  many 
customary  tenants  each  holding  a  quarter,  or  half,  or  a  whole  virgate  of  land, 
but  the  work  was  accredited  to  the  land  itself,  and  not  to  the  tenant  for  the 
time  being,  proving  that  the  custom  of  the  manor  had  undergone  no  altera- 
tion for  a  considerable  time. 

From  each  virgate  one  acre  was  ploughed  and  harrowed,  both  at  the 
winter  and  Lenten  sowing  time.  Each  virgate  threshed  and  winnowed  two 
bushels  of  wheat  and  four  bushels  of  oats,  which  were  carried  to  the  field  and 
sown.  In  winter  the  smaller  tenants  worked  three  days  a  week,  and  in 
summer  every  day. 

In  hay  harvest  one  man  was  sent  from  each  of  the  i6£  virgates  held  by 
twenty-five  tenants  to  mow  and  make  the  hay  of  the  whole  manor,  which, 
it  was  reckoned,  would  take  seven  days.  When  the  hay  was  carried  each 
virgate  sent  two  men,  probably  for  four  days.  Another  3  virgates,  held  by 
four  tenants,  also  sent  two  men  each  to  carry  hay  for  the  four  days. 

Thirty-four  tenants,  holding  2of  virgates,  sent  one  man  from  each 
virgate  for  seventeen  days  to  hoe. 

In  autumn  the  twenty-five  tenants,  who  held  i6j  virgates,  sent  two  men 
from  each  virgate,  receiving  no  food  from  the  lord,  every  other  day  from  the 
gules  of  August  till  the  harvest  was  finished. 

In  autumn  boon-work  was  also  required  of  the  tenants.  The  twenty- 
five  tenants  sent  three  men  from  each  virgate  every  other  day,  except 
Saturday,  receiving  one  meal  a  day. 

Twelve  gavelmen  sent  twenty-one  men  to  reap  for  one  day  in  autumn, 
with  one  meal  a  day. 

Thirty  tenants,  holding  19!  virgates,  reaped,  bound,  and  cocked  in  the 
fields  an  acre  of  wheat  and  an  acre  of  oats  for  each  virgate. 

From  harvest  to  Michaelmas  they  also  worked  every  other  day.  Pre- 
sumably the  tenants  did  not  work  for  the  whole  day  for  the  lord  as  a  rule, 
for  it  is  expressly  specified  that  in  summer  and  autumn  after  harvest  they 
were  to  work  for  the  whole  day,  but  there  is  no  clue  to  the  number  of  hours 
that  they  worked  at  other  times. 

The  meal  given  at  the  boon-day  is  also  specified,  every  two  men  receiv- 
ing bread,  beer,  meat  or  fish,  to  the  value  of  \d.  each,  and  \d.  worth  of  cheese. 

In  1322  and  1323"  the  value  of  each  service  per  day  is  given,  even  of 
the  boon-work,  but  by  no  means  all  the  tenants  had  commuted  their  services. 
On  the  boon-days  food  was  still  provided,  and  the  entry  of  money  paid  for 
each  separate  work  was  very  small  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  the  number  of 
tenants  who  paid  an  assized  rent  in  place  of  all  services  due  throughout  the 
year  does  not  appear  in  the  account. 

u  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  760,  No.  1 8.     The  account  it  dated  I*  Edw.  II. 
"  Ibid.  No.  4.  "  Ibid. 

*  49  7 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Generally,  however,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  even  in  the  list  of 
services  such  daily  work  as  was  done  at  Ditton  and  Cippenham  is  very  rare. 
The  tenants  did  not  go  to  perform  any  work  that  might  be  required  of  them 
by  the  lord's  bailiff,  but  their  work  had  become  a  certainty,  whether  plough- 
ing, hoeing,  reaping,  &c.,  so  that  one  of  Bracton's  proofs  of  unfree  service, 
its  uncertain  nature,  had  nearly  disappeared. 

The  different  kinds  of  boon-work  found  on  the  Buckinghamshire 
manors  are  interesting.  At  Cuddington  M  there  was  a  customary  service  of 
benerth,  which  obliged  the  tenants  to  sow  wheat  and  barley  for  their  lord  ; 
they  received  food  from  him,  since  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V  an  economy  in 
the  expenses  of  this  food  was  effected  by  employing  the  farm-servants  on 
the  boon-work. 

At  Langley  Marish "  benerth  also  was  performed,  and  the  custom  of 
ploughing  the  meadow.  A  boon-day  at  Islehampstead  Chenies 80  was  called 
a  'Love-bone,'  but  nothing  is  said  as  to  its  purpose.  At  harvest  time 
at  Langley  Marish  two  boon-days  were  called  'Water  Bedrypes,'  at  which 
no  beer  was  given  as  at  an  ordinary  bedrype  at  Missenden.  In  other  manors 
belonging  to  Missenden  Abbey"  the  harvest  boon-day  was  called  the  Magna 
precaria  Abbathi. 

The  manorial  tenants  also  made  various  customary  payments  for  privi- 
leges allowed  by  the  lord.  Pannage'8  for  the  right  of  sending  their  pigs  into 
the  lord's  woods  was  paid  frequently,  and  the  same  payment  was  called 
'Garshanese'  both  at  Langley  Marish63  and  at  Ditton.64  Derfold  and  bensed 
are  also  mentioned  at  Langley  ;65  the  latter  appears  at  Wendover,66  when  one 
pint  of  wheat  from  every  virgate  of  land  held  by  certain  tenants  was  paid  at 
Martinmas. 

At  Brill  a  yearly  payment  was  made  of  4^.  6</.,  called  variously  '  Cleg- 
gavel  ' 67  or  '  Clan  gavel.' 68 

At  Monks  Risborough69  certain  tenants  brewed  two  gallons  of  beer, 
which  they  gave  to  the  lord  of  the  manor  under  the  name  of 'Tolcestre.'  In 
the  fifteenth  century  the  payment  was  commuted,  each  tenant  giving  ^d. 
instead  of  the  beer.  In  many  cases  in  Henry  Vs  reign,  however,  some  of 
the  tenants  were  presented  at  the  manorial  court  by  the  bailiff  for  not  having 
paid  the  tolcestre. 

Vaccage 70  or  '  lactagium  '  was  continually  paid,  but  perhaps  it  can 
hardly  be  described  as  a  customary  payment,  being  in  no  way  connected  with 
tenure.  The  lord's  cows  seem  to  have  been  leased  to  various  tenants  at  so 
much  per  head  per  year,  the  lessee  having  the  calf  and  milk  ;  the  same 
system  was  followed  with  sheep,  and  in  one  instance  with  geese  and  fowls. 

Agistment n  was  also  paid  for  leave  to  pasture  cattle  in  the  lord's  park. 
This  was  sometimes  paid  by  a  whole  township  to  obtain  such  rights  in  a 
forest  or  chase.  Thus  the  inhabitants  of  Salden  72  paid  agistment  for  pasture 
in  Whaddon  Chase. 

68  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  760,  Nos.  15,  16.  M  Ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  17. 

*  Ibid.  No.  4.  61  Harl.  MS.  3688. 

"  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  764,  Nos.  7,  4  ;  ibid.  bdle.  760,  No.  4  ;  Hund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  34. 

68  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  761,  No.  17.  M  Ibid.  bdle.  760,  No.  18,  «  Garsanese.' 

66  Ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  17  ;  bdle.  764,  No.  1 1800.       65  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  85. 

67  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  759,  No.  30.       «•  Ibid.  bdle.  759,  No.  31.        »  Monks  Risborough  Ct.  R. 
70  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  760,  No.  14  ;  bdle.  761,  No.  n;  bdle.  763,  No.  »6. 

"  Ibid.  bdle.  763,  No.  26.  "  Ibid.  No.  29. 

50 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

On  the  other  hand  certain  payments  were  made  by  the  lord  by  custom 
to  his  tenants.  He  paid  '  Medram  '  at  Cippenham "  at  harvest  time,  and 
*  dyncr  silver '  when  the  park  was  mown,  but  this  must  have  been  instead  of 
the  food  at  a  boon-day.  At  Ilmer,7*  '  Medeship  '  and  'Cartlof  had  been 
paid,  after  all  carrying  had  been  finished  at  harvest,  to  seventeen  customary 
tenants,  who  received  amongst  them  6J.  worth  of  cheese,  and  i()d.  in  money; 
the  custom,  however,  had  been  given  up  some  years  before  1343."  At 
Whaddon  "  medship  was  given  entirely  in  money,  2s.  6d.  being  divided 
amongst  all  the  customary  tenants. 

At  the  time  when  the  manorial  records  of  Buckinghamshire  begin,  at 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  commutation  of  all  customary  services 
had  already  taken  place  to  a  considerable  extent.  The  change  probably 
arose  from  motives  of  convenience,  as  the  old  system  was  unwieldy,  and  the 
tenants  must  have  found  considerable  difficulty  in  working  for  the  lord  and 
cultivating  their  own  land  at  the  same  time,  especially  on  the  smaller  holdings. 
The  lord,  too,  must  have  been  served  by  very  half-hearted  and  unwilling 
workers,  so  that  the  change  would  be  advantageous  to  both  lord  and  tenants. 
The  effects  were,  however,  far-reaching,  and  were  indeed  one  of  the  main 
causes  of  the  break-up  of  the  manorial  system.  The  tenants  had  to  be 
replaced  by  farm  servants  working  for  a  money  wage,  and  not  necessarily 
holding  land.  These  might  be  of  servile  birth,  but  the  restrictions  on  their 
liberty  were  greatly  lessened  when  disconnected  with  the  land. 

To  give  any  exact  dates  to  the  process  of  commutation  is  difficult,  since 
they  varied  on  each  manor  and  have  to  be  sought  for  in  records  drawn  up 
with  a  different  object.  The  earliest  minister's  account  comes  from  Brill  in 
the  hundred  of  Ashendon.  In  1250—1  77  the  expenses  include  the  payment 
of  all  work  connected  with  the  harvest,  but  both  winter  and  autumn  boon- 
work  was  done  by  the  tenants.  The  men  with  definite  occupations  were  not 
paid  with  money,  but  by  the  remittance  of  their  rents,  so  that  they  were 
tenants,  not  wage-paid  labourers.  On  this  manor  there  were  33  virgates,78 
probably  those  held  by  the  sokemen  of  the  ancient  demesne,  from  which  only 
five  days'  service  was  due  to  the  lord  in  the  year  ;  hence  some  other  arrange- 
ment instead  of  the  ordinary  system  of  work  must  have  been  made  very  early. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I,  however,79  all  the  men  but  one  were 
paid  a  yearly  wage,  extra  men  being  specially  hired  in  harvest-time,  and  in 
1313*°  the  entry  of  operibus  custumariis  venditis  appears  amongst  the  receipts.  In 
other  manors  in  the  same  district,  on  one  side  of  the  accounts  there  are  payments 
for  work  done  by  labourers,  and  on  the  other  entries  of '  assised  rents '  and 
'  works  sold,'  and  each  kind  of  work  in  the  lists  of  services  has  its  fixed 
equivalent  in  money.  At  Westcott81  all  the  work  at  harvest  was  paid  for  in 
money  in  1336  and  1337,  and  a  tenant  held  a  small  holding  of  a  cottage  and 
curtilage  in  villeinage  for  a  rent  of  i  id.  a  year  and  two  days'  work  in  autumn. 
At  Ilmer8'  the  services  were  valued  and  many  tenants  were  paying  commu- 
tation money  to  the  lord.  In  the  Aylesbury  district  the  same  change  had 
also  been  taking  place.  The  sum  of  money  paid  instead  of  services  was  often 

"  P.R.O.  Mini.  Accts.  bdle.  760,  No.  3.  "  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  79. 

'•  P.R.O.  Mint.  Accts.  bdle.  761,  No.  ^.  n  Ibid.  bdle.  763,  No.  30. 

"  Ibid.  bdle.  759,  No.  28.  "  Hund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  34. 

"  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  759,  No*.  29-30.  *  Ibid.  bdle.  759,  No.  31. 

•'  Ibid.  bdle.  763,  No.  19.  "  Ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  2. 

51 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

small  compared  with  the  value  of  the  whole  work,  but  some  men  would  have 
been  paying  a  new  and  increased  rent  covering  everything  due  from  their 
tenements.  At  Beaumond  8S  nine  tenants  held  their  tenements  for  a  money  rent 
for  all  services,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  were  holding  in  villeinage  or 
not.  One  cottage  and  curtilage  seems  to  have  been  a  customary  tenement, 
but  the  tenant  was  not  included  in  the  list  of  the  lord's  bondsmen.  In  an 
extent  M  of  the  manors  of  Missenden  Abbey  none  of  the  tenants  performed 
more  than  fifteen  days'  service  in  the  year,  and  generally  only  four  days'  mow- 
ing, six  days'  hay-making,  four  days'  reaping,  and  attendance  at  the  great 
boon-day  were  required.  As  a  rule  they  were  paying  several  shillings  as  rent 
and  were  presumably  customary  tenants,  when  heriot  was  paid,  but  no 
distinctions  in  tenure  are  actually  made. 

At  Wendover  85  men  were  hired  to  help  with  the  hay,  and  all  reaping 
was  paid  for  by  the  acre  in  1338. 

In  Stoke  Hundred,  at  Cippenham  in  1318  and  1319  8*  apparently  all  the 
regular  work  was  commuted,  but  some  thrashing  was  done  by  the  tenants, 
and  at  Langley,87  Ditton,  and  Datchet88  commutation  was  practically  com- 
plete except  for  boon-work.  In  Datchet  certain  work  had  been  '  of  old ' 
commuted  for  a  fixed  sum  of  money  paid  at  Michaelmas.  Whaddon,  in 
Cottesloe  Hundred,  is  the  only  manor  of  which  the  minister's  accounts  are 
preserved  in  which  commutation  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  place  before 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  for  there  were  no  farm  servants  nor 
had  the  tenants  paid  money  instead  of  performing  their  services  until  1356 
and  I357-89 

Besides  arable  land  the  tenants  of  the  manors  held  meadow  and  rights 
of  common  in  the  pastures  and  waste  lands.  The  meadow  contained  both 
the  separate  inclosure  of  the  lord  and  the  common  meadow  used  by  both  free 
and  customary  tenants,  but  trespassing  in  the  lord's  meadow  with  cattle  was 
an  offence  presented  at  the  manorial  courts  with  extraordinary  regularity. 
The  system  seems  to  have  been  to  inclose  the  "meadow  until  a  certain  date, 
when  all  the  hay  would  have  been  carried,  and  then  to  throw  it  open  for  the 
cattle  of  all  the  tenants.  At  Kingsey,  in  I322,90  the  whole  body  of  cus- 
tomary tenants  had  broken  this  rule,  and  were  presented  in  the  court  '  pro 
herba  apperlata  contra  consuetudine  in  prato  de  la  More.'  The  meadow  land 
was  in  some  places  distributed  among  the  different  tenants  by  lot,  but  though 
probably  the  custom  was  an  old  one,  the  existing  instances  are  found  in  later 
records.  At  Aylesbury,91  in  a  rental  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  two  copy- 
holders held  pieces  of  meadow  land  that  had  come  to  them  by  lot.  Rights 
of  common  in  the  pasture  lands  were  also  attached  to  different  tenements, 
but  the  tenants  in  villeinage  could  only  claim  them  by  custom,  which  was 
very  generally  recognized.  In  Bernwood  Forest  and  Whaddon  Chase  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring  manors  had  rights  of  common  for  their 
cattle,  and  others  again  could  obtain  leave  by  a  small  payment.  This  was 
the  common  custom  in  manors  where  the  lord  had  inclosed  his  woods  or 
parks,  agistamentum  for  cattle  being  a  very  frequent  entry  in  the  accounts. 

83  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  2.  "  Harl.  MS.  3688. 

85  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  793,  No.  8.  "  Ibid.  bdle.  760,  No.  3. 

87  Ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  17.  "  Ibid.  bdle.  760,  No.  18.          »  Ibid.  bdle.  764,  No.  I. 

90  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  15.  9l  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  \. 

52 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

In  many  of  the  pasture  lands  the  tenants  had  rights  of  entry  for  a  certain 
number  of  cattle  according  to  the  size  of  their  tenements,  or  for  a  certain 
period  of  the  year  only.  At  Ilmer93  there  was  a  pasture  which  was  separate 
from  i  May  to  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day,  and  common  for  the  rest  of  the 
year.  At  Beachampton9*  there  were  three  kinds  of  pasture  in  the  manor — 
first,  the  separate  pasture  of  the  lord  ;  secondly,  pasture  that  was  inclosed  from 
the  Annunciation  to  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Day  or  the  feast  of  St.  Peter  ad 
Vincula  ;  and,  lastly,  pasture  that  was  separate  for  two  years  and  was  then 
thrown  open  to  the  commoners  for  the  third  year.  At  Newport  Pagnel, 
in  the  Bury  Field  the  burgesses  enjoyed  rights  of  common  for  a  certain 
number  of  cattle,  in  later  records,  but  the  right  must  have  been  of  ancient 
origin. 

In  the  woods  belonging  to  some  manors  the  tenants  had  also  rights  of 
gathering  firewood  or  wood  for  repairing  their  tenements.  Such  a  system  of 
agriculture,  carried  on  in  common,  and  the  work  on  the  demesne  lands, 
performed  by  the  tenants,  entailed  a  considerable  amount  of  organization. 
As  a  rule,  the  lord  put  a  bailiff  or  steward  in  charge  of  the  manor,  not  only 
to  hold  the  court,  but  to  farm  the  demesne  land  and  watch  over  the  lord's 
interests.  The  labour  services  were  supervised  by  one  of  the  tenants,  who 
was  yearly  elected  for  the  purpose.  He  was  called  the  reeve,  and  in  the 
fourteenth  century  was  chosen  from  among  the  bondsmen  of  the  lord,  among 
whom  his  duties  lay  for  the  most  part.  The  obligation  of  serving  in  this 
office  was  specially  mentioned  at  Ilmer94  amongst  the  customs  of  the  tenants 
in  villeinage,  and  the  reeve"  was  elected  in  full  court  by  the  customary 
tenants  only.  The  office  was  naturally  an  unpopular  one,  for  its  duties  were 
laborious,  and  constantly  a  fine  was  paid  to  the  lord  for  exemption  from  the 
service.  One  of  the  numerous  instances  in  the  court  rolls  occurs  at  Westcott, 
when  Thomas  Benhul  in  order  to  be  quit  of  the  office  paid  a  fine  of  6s.  8</. 
to  his  lord,  a  considerable  sum  of  money  at  the  time,  especially  when  the 
privileges  attached  to  the  office,  the  remission  of  rent  and  services  during  the 
year,  are  taken  into  consideration.  Unpopular  though  it  was,  the  other 
tenants  certainly  seemed  to  have  supported  the  reeve  in  seeing  that  no  one 
escaped  doing  the  work  due  from  their  land.  At  Kingsey  the  reeve  and  the 
whole  homage  at  the  court**  presented  that  a  certain  man  had  gone  to  work 
for  strangers  throughout  the  autumn,  and  would  not  serve  the  lord  when  he 
was  required  to  do  so  by  the  reeve. 

In  spite  of  the  commutation  of  services  the  election  of  the  reeve  con- 
tinued to  form  part  of  the  business  of  the  manor  courts,  but  his  work  must 
have  gradually  diminished. 

How  far  the  tenants  settled  the  arrangements  for  the  common  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fields  for  themselves,  or  how  far  they  were  compelled  to  follow 
the  convenience  of  the  lord's  bailiff,  is  difficult  to  determine.  The  only  place 
where  the  tenants  could  meet  was  the  manor  court,  and  there  the  presence  of 
the  freeholders  who  held  land  in  the  common  fields  was  some  protection  for 
the  customary  tenants  against  possible  aggression  by  the  lord.  In  different 
manors  by-laws  were  made,  but  no  evidence  appears  in  the  rolls  as  to  their 
origin.  At  Kingsey  there  are  various  references  to  the  'statute  of  the 

*  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  79.  *  Ibid.  800.  "  Ibid.  79. 

"  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  z8.  "  Ibid.  No.  17. 

53 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

harvest'  ;  in  I32297  the  following  entry  was  enrolled:  '  statutum  autumpnalim 
concessum  est  quod  in  omnibus  articulis  suis  ob  .  .  .  sub  .  .  .  domine  tam 
liberos  quam  natives.'  At  another  court 98  two  men  were  presented  for  break- 
ing the  statute,  for  the  preservation  of  which  two  custodi  autumpni  had  been 
elected.  In  the  other  rolls,  however,  the  orders  are  confined  to  questions 
connected  with  the  demesne,  and  hence  take  the  form  of  a  precept  of  the 
steward  or  bailiff. 

Another  officer  who  superintended  the  work  of  the  manor  in  the  lord's 
interest  was  the  '  messor '  or  hayward  ;  his  chief  duties  were  to  safeguard 
the  lord's  hay  from  the  depredations  of  the  tenants'  cattle  and  to  present  their 
owners  at  the  following  court.  In  the  Fawley  Court  Rolls  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century  nearly  every  roll  contains  a  long  list  of  the  present- 
ments of  the  hayward.  He  was,  however,  merely  one  of  the  lord's  servants, 
as  a  rule  receiving  wages  ;  although  in  the  earlier  accounts  he  was  often  a 
tenant  whose  rent  was  remitted  in  payment  for  his  service  as  hayward,  he  was 
in  no  instance  elected  by  the  suitors  of  the  court. 

While  the  system  of  customary  service  to  the  lord  was  in  this  state  of 
transition,  the  country  was  devastated  by  the  most  terrible  of  the  visitations 
of  the  plague,  known  in  England  as  the  Black  Death.  So  great  was  the 
destruction  of  life  that  the  years  1348  and  1349  stand  out  as  a  landmark  in 
the  economic  history  of  the  county. 

The  plague  reached  England  in  1348,  but  in  Buckinghamshire  it  was  at 
its  worst  from  May  to  September  in  the  next  year.  The  rate  of  mortality 
can  be  realized  from  the  number  of  ecclesiastical  appointments  made  at  the 
time.  In  1349  the  number  of  deaths  among  the  clergy  reached  a  total  of 
seventy-seven." 

The  same  devastation  fell  upon  the  manorial  tenants.  At  Salden,100  for 
instance,  the  mill  was  empty,  and  all  the  tenants,  both  free  and  villein,  were 
dead  except  John  Robyn,  who  held  one  virgate  in  bondage. 

There  are  unfortunately  exceedingly  few  records  of  the  next  few  years, 
and  still  scarcer  are  those  that  form  a  series  both  before  and  after  1 349.  The 
Whaddon  minister's  accounts  are  the  fullest  for  these  years,  but  the  manor 
was  to  some  extent  exceptional,  owing  to  the  late  commutation  of  services  and 
appearance  of  labourers.  In  1 348  101  there  is  a  detailed  roll,  but  no  wages 
were  paid  at  all  for  agricultural  labour,  and  all  hoeing  and  mowing  and  some 
at  least  of  the  autumn  work  was  performed  by  the  tenants.  The  only  work 
definitely  commuted  was  that  of  collecting  nuts,  certain  tenants  having  paid 
\d.  for  every  time  the  service  was  due  ;  in  the  following  year,102  when  the 
plague  was  at  its  height  in  the  county,  the  roll  is  nearly  a  blank.  The  next 
account  extant  is  for  I35i103;  there  were  still  no  stipends  paid  to  farm 
servants,  but  the  money  values  of  all  services  are  given.  Five  years I0*  later 
there  were  eight  servants  paid  by  the  year,  and  their  wages  form  an  item  in 
the  accounts  until  I364.106  At  Burton,108  where  the  same  period  is  covered, 
the  accounts  give  no  details  at  all,  but  simply  record  the  whole  profits  paid  to 
the  steward  at  Whaddon.  At  Kingsey  there  are  three  accounts,  and  several 

"  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  155,  No.  15.  M  Ibid.  No.  !8. 

"  Line.  Epis.  Reg.  Bishop  Gynwell's  Inst.  1347-61.  10°  Chan.  Inq.  p.m.  23  Edw.  Ill,  pt.  I,  No.  21. 

101  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  763,  No.  27.  1M  Ibid.  No.  23. 

los  Ibid.  No.  29.  1M  Ibid.  No.  30. 

"»  Ibid.  bdle.  764,  No.  5.  IM  Probably  Bierton,  nr.  Aylesbury. 

54 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

for  Cheddington,  at  different  dates  throughout  the  century,  which  show  to 
some  extent  how  far  the  manors  were  affected  by  the  Black  Death,  but  as 
a  rule  the  practice  of  writing  the  accounts  with  full  details  stops  rather  abruptly 
towards  the  close  of  the  century. 

Everywhere  the  result  of  the  Black  Death  must  have  been  a  scarcity  of 
labour.  From  other  sources,  outside  the  records  of  the  county,  we  know 
that  the  labourers  demanded  higher  wages,  as  they  realized  that  they  were  in 
a  position  to  impose  terms  on  their  lords.  They  were  answered  by  the  Statute 
of  Labourers,  fixing  the  maximum  rate  of  wages  that  might  be  given  or 
received.  The  records  in  Buckinghamshire,  giving  ratio  of  wages,  as  a  whole 
do  not  show  that  a  great  rise  was  effected  immediately  after  the  Black  Death, 
but  specially  in  the  case  of  agricultural  labourers  it  is  difficult  to  get  enough 
instances  to  show  what  took  place  all  over  the  county.  In  the  hundreds  of 
Buckingham,  Newport,  Desborough,  and  Burnham  there  are  no  records  of 
such  wages  at  all.  Probably  the  conditions  in  Desborough  Hundred  differed 
but  little  from  those  in  the  neighbouring  districts,  but  the  two  northern 
hundreds  may  have  presented  rather  a  different  state  of  affairs. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  commutation  of  services  had  taken  place 
to  a  considerable  degree  before  the  Black  Death,  and  that  wage-paid  labourers 
were  doing  a  large  share  of  the  work  on  the  demesne  lands  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  At  Brill107  in  1250—1  there  were  two  ploughmen,  one  driver,  and 
one  shepherd,  but  of  these  only  the  two  drivers  received  money  wages.  A 
few  years  later,108  however,  one  of  the  ploughmen  and  the  shepherd  were  paid 
in  money  instead  of  their  rents  being  remitted  ;  and  in  autumn  various  extra 
men  were  hired,  such  as  a  reaper  and  carter.  In  most  manors  a  carter  was 
hired  throughout  the  year,  who,  with  a  cowherd,  swineherd,  and  dairyman, 
completed  the  ordinary  list  of  farm-servants.  The  general  rule  was  to  pay 
the  servants  partly  in  money  and  partly  in  corn,  and  presents  were  often 
added  at  Christmas  and  Easter.  At  some  places  men  were  employed  only 
for  half  the  year,109  and  frequently  they  received  a  very  small  sum  of  money 
in  winter.110 

The  carters  and  ploughmen  were  the  most  highly  paid  labourers, 
the  drivers  receiving  a  little  less.  The  shepherd  was  the  most  important  of 
the  herds,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  was  far  more  frequently 
employed  than  either  the  cowherd  or  the  swineherd. 

A  careful  examination  of  their  wages  points  to  a  very  slight  change  in 
the  second  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  very  far  from  the  assertion  that 
wages  were  at  least  doubled.  In  Edward  I's  reign  at  Beaumond  m  some  of 
the  wages  were  higher  than  those  to  be  found  until  an  account  for  Cudding- 
ton  in  Henry  V's  reign,  but  the  driver  at  the  earlier  date  received  less  than 
the  usual  wages,  which  varied  from  3^.  6</.  to  4*.  6</.ni  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  The  ploughmen  usually  received  6s.,  the  dairyman  jj.  to  4_r., 
and  the  swineherd  3*.  to  4J.  6</.  except  at  Cuddington,  where  the  rate  of 
wages  was  higher.  These  variations  did  not  occur  to  so  great  an  extent  in 
different  years  as  on  different  manors. 

l"  P.R.O.  Mini.  Accts.  bdle.  759,  No.  28.  "•  Ibid.  No.  29. 

'"  Ibid.  No.  21,  the  swineherd  at  'Bourton'  ;  ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  9,  the  shepherd  at  King»ey. 

"*  Ibid.  bdle.  759,  No.  21.  At  '  Bourton '  the  wages  in  winter  were  only  half  what  was  paid  in  summer. 

"'  Ibid.  No.  15. 

111  Farm  servants  who  were  paid  by  the  year  also  received  board  and  lodging. 

55 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


A  list  of  the  Cuddington  wages  affords  an  instance  where  the  wages 
seem  to  have  been  unaffected  by  the  Black  Death,  but  the  list  at  Cheddington 
gives  evidence  of  an  entirely  opposite  effect. 


Servant      . 

Carter 

Ploughman 


Shepherd  . 
Swineherd . 
Dairyman  . 
Hayward  . 
Cowherd  . 


CUDDINGTON  :  WAGES  BY  THE  YEAR 
1336-7  U1  1380-1 m 


6s.  8d. 
6s. 


6s. 
6s. 


6s. 


6s. 

35.  6d. 
6s. 

y.  6d. 


I4i6-i7116 

6s.  8d. 

(master)  IOJ. 

(master)  8s. 

2nd  8s. 
2  others  6s.  each 

IOS. 

6s. 
6s.  8d. 


CHEDDINGTON  :  WAGES  BY  THE  YEAR 


1298  '" 

mi  I17 

HAI  118 

\i6i  "' 

I  3  7  C  "° 

1  i  '  l 

'341 

1  j"j 

'375 

Autumn        Winter 
t.      d.           i.      d. 

For  I  year 
i.      d. 

Summer         Winter 
i.      </.                   d. 

Mich.        Lady  Day 
».      </.            j.      J. 

Mich.        Lady  Day 

!.          d.                 1.         d. 

Ploughman    .... 
„          (^d)    .     . 
Driver      

I     6}       «     • 
3     o         14. 

{'_•) 

4.      4- 

1°  {  i 

1       O                       A. 

60         3     o 

4.      O            2O 

80         68 
c     6         co 

3     6          i      6 

C       O 

A.       O                       6 

Shepherd  

3     o         i     6 

4-       O 

3O                       4. 

CO            2O 

50         20 

Dairyman      .... 
Swineherd     .... 

36         i     o 
i     o         06 

4     ° 

2        6 

3     o               4 
i     6         06 

5     o  "'     — 
3     o  for  I  year 

50         20 
26         i     6 

Thus  at  Cheddington  there  is  a  considerable  rise  between  the  years  1341 
and  1363,  but  fourteen  years  later  the  wages  were  more  than  doubled,  and  at 
Weedon,123  in  the  same  hundred,  there  is  a  rise  in  the  wages  between  i  377 
and  1382. 

At  Whaddon,  in  the  same  hundred,  the  accounts  present  rather  a  peculiar 
case,  since  no  wages  had  been  entered  in  the  accounts  till  after  the  Black 
Death.  In  i356,m  however,  the  wages  were  4.1-.  Sd.  for  the  ploughman, 
dairyman,  carter,  and  swineherd,  and  6s.  for  the  drivers,  but  no  rise  took 
place  before  I363-134 

On  other  manors  in  Aylesbury  Hundred  the  rate  seems  to  have  been 
similar  to  that  at  Cuddington,  but  in  the  hundreds  of  Ashendon  and  Stoke 
the  rate  was  slightly  lower.  At  Kingsey  m  there  were  no  carters,  but  seven 
servants  going  with  the  carts  and  ploughs  in  winter.  The  wages  for  all 
seven  were  13*.  for  the  half-year  in  1360,  so  that  each  man  received  on  an 
average  a  little  more  than  is.  lod.  The  ploughman  had  the  privilege  of 
ploughing  his  land  with  his  lord's  ploughs,  and  so  received  no  wages.  At 

113  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  760,  No.  13.  '"  Ibid.  No.  14.  ui  Ibid.  No.  10. 

116  Mins.  Accts.  belonging  to  Merton  College,  Oxford,  rot.  5531.          "7  Ibid.  rot.  5541. 
118  Ibid.  rot.  5570J.  "9  Ibid.  rot.  5589.    '  uo  Ibid.  rot.  5561. 

121  In  the  previous  year  the  dairyman  received   5/.  at  Michaelmas  and   zs.  at  Lady  Day.       Hence  the 
omission  in  1363  of  the  latter  payment  is  probably  a  mistake. 

128  Thorold  Rogers,  Hist,  of  Agric.  and  Prices,  ii.  m  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  763,  No.  30. 

124  Ibid.  bdle.  764,  No.  5.  '»  Ibid.  bdle.  761,  No.  8. 

56 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

Ilmer  wages  were  not  paid  to  all  the  labourers  till  1343.  In  the  previous 
year }2S  the  reaper,  swineherd,  and  a  maid-servant  were  paid  in  money,  but 
the  carter,  ploughman,  and  two  drivers  received  corn  in  the  field,  each 
receiving  the  produce  of  a  certain  number  of  acres  of  wheat  and  beans.  This 
payment  was  altered,  and  the  carter,  ploughman,  driver,  and  shepherd  were 
paid  id.  a  day  and  the  dairyman  \\d.  a  day,  but  this  is  the  only  case 
where  the  regular  servants  were  paid  by  the  day. 

Other  workmen  were  employed  on  the  different  manors,  and  were  generally 
paid  by  the  day.  The  blacksmith,  however,  had  either  a  tenement,  free  of 
rent  or  services,  or  was  paid  by  the  piece.  Occasionally  a  contract  was  made 
for  the  whole  work  needed  for  the  demesne;  at  Wendover1*7  36^.  and 
four  bushels  of  wheat  were  given  in  payment  of  all  work  connected  with 
four  ploughs,  the  cart-horse  and  mill-horse.  Reaping  and  mowing  was 
generally  paid  by  the  acre,  but  carpenters,  thatchers,  and  sawyers  were  paid 
by  the  day.  The  carpenters  received  ^d.  or  ^d.  throughout  the  fourteenth 
century,  but  the  higher  rate  was  more  frequent,  and  the  rise  of  \d.  took 
place,  as  a  rule,  some  years  before  the  Black  Death.  At  Cheddington 1J8  the 
carpenter  was  paid  zd.  a  day  in  1342  and  1344,  but  before  that  the  usual 
rate  was  4^.,  and  in  no  other  place  was  he  paid  less  than  ^d.  In  1372  the 
rate  rose  to  6</.,  but  afterwards  dropped  again  to  $d.  ;  and  at  Cuddington  Ift 
no  change  had  taken  place  as  late  as  1417.  The  other  workmen  were  so 
frequently  paid  for  themselves  and  a  labourer  that  it  is  impossible  to  find  out 
their  exact  wages.  The  thatcher  was  paid  id.  or  ^d.  during  the  century, 
but  the  higher  rate  in  this  case  was  more  common  towards  the  end  of 
Edward  Ill's  reign.  Other  labourers — digging,  forking  hay,  hedging — had 
usually  2d.  or  ^d.  a  day.  Both  rates  appear  throughout  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, but  in  the  cases  of  these  labourers  a  rise  had  taken  place  before  this 
period,  for  no  men  at  all  receive  the  wage  of  id.  a  day  for  any  work — the  rate 
paid  in  a  few  instances  about  1280.  Women  rarely  received  more  than  \d. 
a  day,  and  frequently  only  \d.  or  \d.  At  Whaddon  13°  several  women 
received  zd.  a  day,  but  there  is  no  other  evidence  to  show  whether  a  general 
rise  took  place  in  women's  wages  after  the  Black  Death  or  whether  this  was  an 
isolated  instance. 

For  the  fifteenth  century  there  are  practically  no  records  of  the  wages 
of  agricultural  labourers,  but  during  the  building  of  Eton  College  the 
wage-books  of  the  clerk  of  the  works  give  the  wages  paid  for  stone-masons, 
carpenters,  and  their  labourers.  In  the  estimates  for  the  college  buildings  " 
in  1447—8  the  free  masons  were  paid  3-r.  a  week  ;  other  skilled  workmen 
had  bd.  a  day,  and  ordinary  labourers  ^d.  These  rates  show  that  there  had 
been  a  considerable  rise  during  the  fifteenth  century,  and  may  have  been 
lower  than  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  for  the  men  were  engaged  for 
a  long  piece  of  work,  and  also  had  their  tools  found  by  the  king.  Several 
times  men  were  fined  for  losing  their  tools,  an  extensive  system  of  fines 
being  adopted  for  the  punishment  of  all  small  offences,  such  as  telling 
tales,  playing,  and  most  frequently  for  late-coming.  At  times  common 
labourers  received  as  much  as  $d.  a  day. 

""  P.R.O.  Mini.  Accts.  bdle.  761,  No.  ».  "*  Ibid.  bdle.  763,  No.  1 1. 

'"  Thorold  Rogers,  Hiit.  of  Agric.  and  Pritti,  it. 

•»  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accti.  bdle.  760,  No.  16.  •"  Ibid.  bdle.  764,  No.  3. 

m  R.  Willii,  Arch.  Hiit.  ofVniv.  of  Cambridge  and  Eton  (ed.  1886). 

a  8 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

Besides  commutation  of  services  various  other  movements  brought  about 
a  change  in  the  manorial  economy.  The  lay  lords  no  longer  lived  on  their 
manors,  but  they  had  to  a  great  extent  become  absentee  landlords,  either 
belonging  to  the  court  nobility  or  else  serving  abroad  in  the  French  wars. 
In  either  case  money  was  needed  rather  than  agricultural  produce,  and  often 
it  was  far  more  profitable  to  grant  away  part  of  the  demesne  to  various 
tenants  than  for  the  bailiff  to  farm  the  whole  land.  Hence  not  only  had 
the  need  for  personal  service  disappeared,  but  the  servile  status  of  the  villein 
was  unnecessary  since  the  lord  no  longer  needed  to  keep  a  closer  control  over 
him  than  over  a  free  tenant.  At  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  there  was 
but  little  difference  between  a  villein  and  a  free  man.  He  cultivated  his 
own  land  without  interference,  and  the  Court  Rolls  by  custom  secured  him 
possession  of  his  land.  He  had  also  gained  recognition  in  the  statutes  and 
laws  of  the  realm  ;  the  Statute  of  Winchester  especially,  which  enforced 
the  duty  of  all  men  being  trained  to  carry  arms.  To  some  extent  it  was  a 
revival  of  the  fyrd,  and  made  no  distinction  between  the  free  and  unfree  in 
regard  to  their  responsibility  for  the  defence  of  the  nation.  On  the  other 
hand,  no  definite  national  act  of  manumission  took  place,  and  all  the 
restrictions  on  customary  tenants  were  enforced,  if  they  were  profitable  to 
the  lord.  After  the  Black  Death  they  were  probably  enforced  even  more 
stringently  than  before,  and  in  the  manorial  courts  no  opportunity  was  ever 
missed  of  exacting  heriots,  merchets,  fines  for  entry  and  for  leaving  the  lord's 
fee,  and  various  other  payments — all  causing  greater  discontent  as  the  position 
of  the  villeins  in  other  ways  improved. 

The  heaviness  of  these  fines  was  probably  the  foundation  of  the  cry  for 
freedom  raised  in  the  Peasants'  Revolt  in  1381.  If  the  poll-tax,  which  was 
the  first  tax  to  fall  directly  on  the  serfs,  led  to  the  actual  rising  of  the  men  of 
Kent,  in  other  parts  of  the  country  the  demand  for  freedom  was  the  main 
rallying  cry  of  the  rebels.  The  men  of  Buckinghamshire  do  not  seem 
to  have  joined  the  revolt,  although  the  rebels  were  numerous  in  the 
neighbouring  county  of  Hertford.  The  Court  Rolls  early  in  the  reign  of 
Richard  II  show  no  evidence  of  any  disturbance,  nor  do  they  record  the 
flight  of  more  men  than  usual  from  the  manor.  Little  effort  seems  to  have 
been  made  to  reclaim  the  fugitives  beyond  distraining  their  relatives  to 
produce  them  at  the  next  court,  a  course  of  action  which  seems  to  have 
had  singularly  little  effect.  At  Whaddon,  the  smith,  a  tenant  whose  rent 
and  services  due  from  half  a  virgate  of  land  were  remitted,  left  the  manor  in 
1381,  and  did  not  do  the  necessary  blacksmith's  work.  That  he  joined  the 
revolt  is  a  pure  surmise,  but  if  the  Buckinghamshire  villeins  took  any  part  in 
it,  it  must  have  been  in  such  isolated  instances  as  that  of  John  Beaufitz,132 
the  smith  of  Whaddon. 

The  emancipation  of  the  serfs  obtained  at  Smithfield  from  the  young 
king  was  repudiated  by  Parliament,  and  the  hope  of  freeing  themselves  at  one 
stroke  from  the  remaining  disabilities  of  serfdom  and  customary  tenure  had 
disappeared.  The  rebels  in  many  places  had  burnt  the  Court  Rolls  of  their 
manors,  considering  that  these  were  the  only  witnesses  of  their  ancestry,  but 
it  was  to  the  rolls  that  finally  they  owed  the  security  of  their  tenure.  The 
repudiation  was  carried  out  by  the  two  houses  of  Parliament,  composed 

'"  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  763,  No.  8. 
58 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

mainly  of  important  landholders,  the  one  class  to  whom  serfdom  was  still  of 
some  importance,  but  their  action  was  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  general 
tendency  of  the  time.  The  action  of  the  law  courts,  always  jealous  of 
private  jurisdiction,  especially  made  for  freedom,  and  so  without  any  great 
Act  of  Parliament  the  customary  tenants  gradually  obtained  protection  for 
their  tenure  in  the  national  courts  of  justice.  A  new  formula  was  introduced 
when  a  tenement  was  granted  to  a  fresh  tenant  ;  he  held  by  *  copy  of  court 
roll '  or  simply  '  by  copy,'  as  well  as  by  the  custom  of  the  manor.  At 
Fawley  IM  the  phrase  first  appears,  in  a  roll  of  the  year  1 409,  but  it  is  rare  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  ;  at  Langley  Marish  in  1483  it  had 
become  the  ordinary  designation  for  customary  tenements,  a  presentment ls* 
running  as  follows  :  *  Et  quod  Johannes  Waltys  qui  de  domino  tenuit  diversas 
terras  tarn  libere  tam  per  rotulum  curie  .  .  .  .'  The  copyholders  gained 
protection  for  their  land  by  a  writ  in  the  royal  courts,  but  the  old  dues  were 
still  exacted.  The  sokemen  of  the  ancient  demesne  were  included  among  the 
copyholders,  though  at  Aylesbury  m  the  little  writ  of  right  was  mentioned  as 
part  of  the  custom  of  the  manor  in  Henry  VII's  reign.  They  clung  to  the 
certainty  of  their  fines,  however,  a  privilege  which  was  not  attained  by 
ordinary  copyholders  unless  they  made  special  terms  with  the  lords.  The 
security  of  copyhold  tenure  did  not  extend  to  the  grants  made  of  demesne 
land  at  the  will  of  the  lord,  but  only  to  the  old  customary  tenements,  for  in 
various  instances  in  the  ministers'  accounts  ls*  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
distinction  is  drawn  carefully  between  tenants  by  copy  and  tenants  at  will. 

If  throughout  the  fourteenth  century  the  tendency  was  towards  greater 
freedom,  and  in  consequence  greater  prosperity  amongst  the  manorial  tenants, 
there  was  a  counter-movement  which  tended  to  their  disadvantage.  All  the 
tenants  had  rights  of  common  for  their  cattle  in  the  commons  and  wastes  of 
the  manor,  rights  attached  to  the  tenements  that  they  held.  The  free 
tenants  had  a  proprietary  right  in  their  common,  just  as  much  as  in  the 
other  parts  of  their  tenements  ;  but  the  customary  tenants,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  origin  of  their  common  rights,  were  in  legal  theory  only  allowed  to 
enjoy  them  as  an  act  of  grace  on  the  part  of  their  lords.  The  importance  of 
such  pasture  rights  was  unequalled  in  an  agricultural  community,  and  hence 
any  inclosing  of  commons  or  waste  lands  caused  great  hardship  to  the 
tenants.  The  fresh  incentive  to  inclosure  was  the  increased  profit  to  be 
made  from  sheep-farming,  which  was  widely  taken  up  by  both  ecclesiastical 
and  lay  lords  in  the  fourteenth  century,  though  the  movement  had  begun  a 
century  earlier.  Large  tracts  of  country  were  amassed  into  one  hand  and 
turned  into  separate  pasture  land,  so  that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  arable 
farming,  due  to  the  insufficient  supply  of  labour,  were  overcome. 

As  early  as  I254137  there  were  complaints  of  the  inclosing  of  parks  in 
various  manors  in  the  three  hundreds  of  Newport.  At  Brill 1M  the  tenants 
had  been  evicted  by  the  firmer  of  the  manor  from  their  right  of  common  in 
a  wood,  for  which  they  had  already  been  accustomed  to  pay  50*.  a  year,  and 
had  never  made  any  default  in  their  payment.  The  complaints  grew  so  loud 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  I  that  the  matter  was  dealt  with  in  detail  in  the  Statute 


•»  B.  M.  Add.  R.  17150. 

'"  Arch.  \.  98. 

'"  HunJ.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  38. 


114  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  bdle.  i,  No.  6. 

"•  P.R.O.  Min».  Accu.  37-38  Hen.  VIII,  bdle.  56,  L.R. 

•"Ibid.  21. 

59 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

of  Merton.  The  influence  of  the  lords  was,  however,  so  great  that  only  certain 
restrictions  were  placed  on  their  powers  of  inclosure  ;  each  incloser  was 
forced  to  leave  a  sufficiency  of  pasture  for  the  tenants  of  the  manor,  but  as  he 
was  generally  also  the  lord  of  the  manor,  he  had  the  right  to  settle  what 
was  a  sufficiency  for  the  greater  number  of  his  tenants. 

In  most  manors  of  which  records  remain  in  Buckinghamshire  the  lord 
had  inclosed  a  park,  which  generally  contained  pasture,  meadow,  and  often 
a  warren.  The  increase  of  hunting  rights  was  a  further  grievance,  which 
interfered  with  the  tenants'  common  rights.  At  Newport  Pagnel 13' 
complaints  were  made  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  that  there  was  a  warren  in  the 
common  field  of  the  town,  but  that  was  a  case  of  rare  and  excessive  oppression. 
At  Fawley,  Langley  Marish,  Cippenham,  Princes  Risborough,  Hanlee  in 
Beachampton,  and  Olney  there  were  inclosed  parks,  but  on  all  these  manors 
the  bailiff  still  cultivated  part  at  least  of  the  demesne  as  arable  land,  for  the 
sale  of  corn  continually  forms  part  of  the  receipts  in  the  bailiff's  accounts,  and 
it  is  improbable  that  much  land  at  this  time  was  turned  into  pasture,  but  only 
that  commons  were  inclosed. 

In  the  parks  themselves  the  tenants  generally  had  pasturage  on  payment 
of  a  yearly  sum  of  money,  but  if  previous  to  the  inclosure  they  had  had  free 
common  rights,  this  would  naturally  entail  a  considerable  loss  to  the  tenants. 

Licence  to  inclose,  after  the  statute,  had  to  be  obtained  from  the  king. 
In  1337  uo  Sir  John  de  Molins  had  leave  to  impark  his  woods  in  Ilmer  with 
100  acres  of  pasture  in  Beaconsfield,  Burnham,  and  Cippenham.  Eight  years 
later  he  had  leave  to  inclose  more  woods  with  the  300  acres  of  pasture 
adjoining  them. 

The  movement  was  followed  not  only  by  the  lords  of  the  manor  but  by 
the  freeholders,  and  more  especially  by  the  firmors,  to  whom  the  lords  leased 
the  demesne  lands.  Still  in  the  thirteenth  and  early  fourteenth  centuries 
sheep-farming  was  carried  on  to  a  large  extent  by  the  bailiffs  of  the  manors, 
for  the  sale  of  wool  and  fleeces  was  frequently  entered  in  their  accounts. 

From  a  survey141  of  various  manors,  assigned  to  the  reign  of  Henry  III, 
the  number  of  sheep  is  given  on  three  royal  manors,  Brill,  Aylesbury,  and 
Lectun ;  but  there  is  no  account  of  the  sale  of  the  wool.  In  Stoke  Hundred, 
at  Cippenham,  Langley  Marish,  and  Ditton,  the  bailiff  sold  considerable 
quantities  of  wool  ;  at  Islehampstead  Chenies  the  lord  had  a  fulling  mill, 
the  rent  of  which  had  been  increased  in  1324—5,  but  in  the  hundreds  of 
Ashendon  practically  no  wool  appears  in  the  accounts,  except  at  Brill  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  In  the  hundred  of  Aylesbury  not  much  wool  was  sold, 
but  at  Wendover  there  was  a  fulling  mill  in  1339—40,  and  about  three 
hundred  sheep  belonging  to  the  lord. 

The  greatest  quantities  of  wool  were  sold  on  three  manors  in  Cottesloe 
Hundred — at  Whaddon,  Cheddington,  and  Weedon. 

The  sheep-farming  was  probably  accompanied  by  an  increase  in  the 
manufacture  of  cloth  within  the  county.  Elsewhere  efforts  were  made  to 
improve  the  kinds  of  cloth  made  in  England,  and  in  Wycombe,142  at  least, 
amongst  the  Buckinghamshire  towns,  the  burgesses  were  anxious  to  induce 
weavers  to  settle  in  the  town,  by  granting  them  immunity  from  certain  fines 

139  Hund.  R.   (Rec.  Com.),  i,  40.  14°  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iv,  546. 

141  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  R.  74.  10  Ledger  of  borough,  1316. 

60 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

exacted  from  foreign  tradesmen.  Fullers  and  dyers  were  also  to  be  found  in 
the  town,  but  the  cloth  made  was  probably  very  coarse,  since  Buckingham- 
shire wool  compared  unfavourably  with  that  grown  in  the  neighbouring 
counties. 

The  tenants  and  farmers,  so  far  as  it  was  possible,  also  carried  on  the 
more  profitable  system  of  farming. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  practice  was  increasing 
of  letting  out  the  demesne  lands  at  firm,  both  arable  and  pasture  land.  At 
Whaddon,  where  the  sale  of  wool  had  previously  formed  a  considerable  item 
in  the  bailifFs  accounts,  the  meadows  and  pastures  were  all  at  firm  in 
1381— 2,1*3  and  in  other  places  parts  of  the  pastures  had  been  let  still 
earlier  to  both  free  and  customary  tenants.  At  Fawley  lu  trespasses  in  the 
lord's  pasture  were  very  common,  and  quite  small  tenants  were  presented  for 
sixty  and  forty  sheep  at  a  time,  and  they  evidently  made  serious  encroach- 
ments on  the  separate  pasture,  all  tenants  in  one  instance  being  ordered  to 
remove  their  cattle  from  the  lord's  pasture. 

With  regard  to  the  manors  that  were  in  the  king's  hands  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  common  practice  was  to  let  the  whole  manor  at  firm,  sometimes 
to  one  man,  sometimes  to  a  number  of  tenants.  The  firmors  did  not  hold 
the  manorial  court,  or  even  receive  its  dues  ;  hence  they  had  but  little 
interest  in  the  customary  tenants,  and  their  chief  object  would  be  to  make 
as  much  profit  as  possible  from  the  land  itself  by  sheep-farming. 

The  tenants  on  some  manors  could  also  get  leave  to  inclose  certain 
pieces  of  land  on  payment  of  a  small  fine  to  the  lord,  but  it  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  very  commonly  done.  More  frequently  the  inclosure  was  made 
without  leave  ;  and,  though  complaints  were  frequently  made  in  the  court, 
little  was  done,  unless  the  encroachment  affected  the  demesne  pastures,  for 
the  presentment  was  made  in  court  after  court  of  the  same  offence. 

The  prices  given  in  the  accounts  show  that  the  value  of  wool  increased 
substantially  in  the  fourteenth  century.  In  many  cases  the  price  is  given  by 
the  fleece  and  not  by  the  weight,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  compare  them  on 
different  manors  and  at  different  times. 

The  price  of  sheep  also  affords  some  information  on  the  profits  that 
were  made  by  sheep-farming.  In  three  instances  of  the  survey  of  the  stock 
on  the  royal  manors  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III1*'  all  sheep  are  valued  at  4^.,  but 
in  the  fourteenth  century  the  price  had  risen  very  considerably.  The  lowest 
prices  were  1 \d.  at  Cippenham,1*6  and  is.  id.  at  Wendover  for  ewes,147  while 
at  Whaddon  the  price  rose  to  2s.  8</.  for  sheep,1*8  but  generally  they  brought 
in  about  2s.  a  head. 

The  records  of  the  fifteenth  century  are  very  meagre  as  to  details, 
since  the  accounts  merely  record  the  payments  of  rents,  &c.,  and  contain 
nothing  as  to  agriculture  or  stock.  Inclosing  must,  however,  have  gone  on 
apace,  but  the  complaints  did  not  become  loud  enough  to  influence  the 
government  to  interfere  until  the  close  of  the  century.  The  rentals  and 
ministers'  accounts,  however,  show  that  many  tenants  had  been  evicted  from 
their  land,  and  that  many  tenements  were  gathered  into  one  hand.  They  do 

la  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accu.  bdle.  764,  No.  8.  '"  B.M.  Add.  R.  27161. 

ltt  P.R.O.  Rentals  and  Surv.  74.  '"  P.R.O.  Mins.  Accu.  bdle.  760,  No.  ?. 

'"  Ibid.  bdle.  763,  No.  9.  "•  Ibid.  bdle.  764,  No.  7. 

61 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

not  show  that  the  arable  land  was  turned  into  pasture,  but  the  consolidation 
of  tenements  into  a  few  hands  enabled  the  free  tenants  to  inclose  with  but 
little  opposition.  Three  rentals  at  Haversham  afford  an  illustration  of  what 
was  probably  taking  place  all  over  the  county.  In  1305—6  there  were  fifty- 
two  tenants  of  all  kinds  ;  in  1458—9  several  men  were  holding  two  tenements 
each,  and,  in  consequence,  the  number  of  tenants  had  fallen  to  thirty-five. 
Lastly,  in  1497—8,  there  were  only  fourteen  tenants  in  the  rental  ;  of  these 
three  held  one  messuage  and  half  a  virgate  of  land  each,  and  one  had  only  a 
cottage,  so  that  the  remaining  ten  tenants  must  each  have  acquired  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  land.  At  Fawley  the  number  of  tenants  also  decreased 
during  the  same  period,  and  at  Cippenham  in  1407-8  two  virgates  of  land 
had  been  definitely  inclosed  in  the  park,  and  therefore  the  rents  were  no 
longer  received  by  the  bailiff. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  however,  the  inclosers  turned 
arable  land  into  pasture,  pulled  down  houses,  and  turned  away  the  tenants 
and  labourers  for  whom  there  was  no  longer  any  work.  In  1490  an  Act 
was  passed  entitled  an  '  Act  for  keeping  up  of  houses  of  husbondry,'  but  it 
failed  owing  to  the  machinery  for  carrying  it  into  effect  being  placed  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  those  most  interested  in  the  retention  of  inclosures.  Another 
Act  '  against  the  pulling  down  of  towns  '  was  passed  in  1515,  which  provided 
a  more  adequate  method  of  dealing  with  inclosures  ;  and  was  followed  by 
the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  number  and  effect  of 
those  already  in  existence.  The  returns  for  several  counties  are  in  existence, 
amongst  them  being  those  for  Buckinghamshire.  The  commissioners  held 
inquiries  as  to  all  inclosures  made  between  the  years  1485  and  1517,  and  the 
terms  of  their  commission  especially  were  confined  to  inclosures  for  sheep 
farming.  The  returns  are  made  in  very  various  forms,  so  that  it  is  difficult 
to  ascertain  whether  in  all  the  instances  inclosure  was  followed  by  the  con- 
version of  the  arable  land  into  pasture.  Nearly  9,000  acres  are  included  in 
the  Buckinghamshire  returns,  and  in  81*5  per  cent,  of  these  it  was  definitely 
stated  that  this  conversion  had  taken  place.  With  regard  to  the  remainder 
it  seems  probable  that  the  omission  was  due  to  accident  in  the  drawing  up 
of  the  evidence,  particularly  if  the  scale  of  inclosures  in  different  hundreds  is 
considered.  In  the  hundred  of  Ashendon  2,979  acres  had  been  inclosed, 
and  in  Newport  and  Cottesloe  Hundreds  over  1,800  and  1,100  acres  respec- 
tively, in  all  three  districts  the  land  being  suitable  for  sheep  farming.  There 
are  practically  no  returns  for  the  hundred  of  Desborough  (48  acres  in  all), 
but  in  Burnham  490  acres  had  been  inclosed.  There  was,  however,  but 
little  land  fit  for  pasture  in  these  two  hundreds,  but  good  land  for  arable 
farming,  so  that  the  incentive  to  inclosure  for  pasture  would  not  be  great. 
A  few  years  later  Leland,  passing  through  Burnham  Hundred  from  Amer- 
sham  to  Uxbridge,  noted  the  '  goodly  enclosed  groundes '  that  lay  on  each 
side  of  his  road,  but  of  the  inclosures  returned  in  1517  his  way  only  passed 
through  Chalfont  St.  Peter.  On  entering  Stoke  Hundred,  Denham  again 
was  the  only  place  along  the  road  at  which  there  were  inclosures  in  1517, 
to  the  extent  of  84  acres.  Thus  it  is  probable  that  the  returns  were  made 
only  when  inclosure  was  followed  by  the  conversion  of  arable  land  into 
pasture,  though  the  land  mentioned  by  Leland  might  of  course  have  been 
inclosed  before  1485,  or  in  the  interval  between  1517  and  his  journey. 

62 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  inclosures  in  Aylesbury  Hundred  are  curiously  small  in  extent,  since 
it  lay  in  the  centre  of  the  Vale,  and  in  the  adjoining  hundreds  of  Ashendon 
and  Cottesloe  inclosures  for  pasture  had  taken  place  extensively.  The 
movement  was  at  its  height  between  the  years  1491  and  1500,  slackening  in 
the  succeeding  years  covered  by  the  reports.  This  was  possibly  due  to  the 
fact  that  Buckinghamshire  wool  was  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  the  price  was 
considerably  lower  than  in  Oxfordshire  or  Berkshire.  Thus  Buckingham- 
shire farmers  may  have  proved  that  sheep  farming  was  not  so  profitable  as 
they  had  expected. 

In  the  majority  of  the  returns  the  amount  of  damage  is  estimated  by 
the  number  of  houses  destroyed  and  of  ploughs  thrown  out  of  use.  The 
tenants  were  evicted  with  no  compensation  for  the  loss  of  their  houses  and 
lands,  and  were  reduced  to  extreme  poverty.  Much  less  labour  was  needed 
on  the  pasture  farms,  and  there  was  nowhere  for  the  evicted  tenants  nor  for 
the  labourers  to  go  for  employment,  for  inclosure  was  as  frequent  in  the 
neighbouring  counties.  Still,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  total  inclosures 
recorded  formed  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  the  arable  land  under  cultivation 
in  the  counties  making  the  returns,  and  that  in  the  southern  part  of 
Buckinghamshire  but  few  evictions  probably  took  place.  Further  north, 
however,  there  must  have  been  a  great  deal  of  distress  ;  the  most  serious 
instances  of  wholesale  evictions  were  at  '  Birdston,'  '  Dodershill,"  '  Littlecot,' 

*  Flete  Marston,'  and  '  Hogshaw  with  the  hamlet   of  Fulbrook,'  all  in  the 
hundreds    of  Cottesloe    or  Ashendon.     At    Birdstane  a  freeholder    inclosed 
400  acres  of  land  and  converted  them  to  pasture  ;  four  houses  were  pulled 
down  and  sixty  people  turned  out  of  their  houses  and  lands,  which  had  been 
cultivated  with  eight  ploughs,   and  '  the    said  town,  hamlet  and  manor  of 
Byrdeston  was  now  totally  and  wholly  used  and  had  for  the  pasture  of  sheep.' 
At  Doddershall  24  messuages  and  24  virgates  of  land,  each  containing  40  acres, 
had  supported    120  persons  with  sixteen  ploughs,  but  they  had  been  turned 
into  pasture  and   the   inhabitants  had  gone  away   in   extreme  poverty.     At 
Littlecote  84  persons  had  lost  their  occupations  and  land  and  had  left  the  place, 

*  for  the  whole  hamlet  of  Littlecot  was  devastated  and  destroyed.' 

The  lord  of  the  manor,  two  freeholders,  and  a  firmer  had  jointly  inclosed 
140  acres  of  arable  land  at  Fleet  Marston,  evicting  fifty  persons,  and  only 
one  messuage  on  the  demesne,  with  five  cottages  for  as  many  shepherds,  had 
been  left  standing.  A  full  account  is  given  of  the  evictions  at  Hogshaw  and 
its  hamlet  of  Fulbrook,  which  contained  together  1 1  messuages  and  390  acres 
of  arable  land.  From  time  immemorial  these  acres  had  been  sown  with  grain, 
and  six  ploughs  had  been  employed  on  them,  but  the  tenements  were  held  at 
firm  by  Ralph  Lane  and  Roger  Gifford  from  the  prior  of  the  Hospitallers  in 
England  and  of  the  abbot  of  Eynsham.  The  prior  held  the  manor  of 
Hogshaw,  where  there  were  eight  tenements  ;  Ralph  Lane  was  in  actual 
occupation  of  the  chief  messuage  of  the  manor  and  another  smaller  tenement. 
The  abbot  held  three  tenements  in  Fulbrook,  where  Roger  Gifford  was  also  a 
freeholder,  '  seised  in  demesne  of  his  fee.'  The  two  firmors  inclosed  the 
whole  of  Hogshaw  and  Fulbrook  with  a  ditch,  and  '  kept  and  do  now  keep 
in  severally  the  arable  lands  and  converted  them  to  pasture  and  the  pasturage 
of  animals.'  Not  only  was  the  arable  land  thus  inclosed  and  converted,  but 
the  569  acres  of  meadow  and  pasture  were  apparently  also  surrounded  by  the 

63 


\ 

A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

ditch.  In  these  five  instances  whole  villages  were  swept  away,  so  that  the 
tenants,  their  families  and  labourers,  must  have  entirely  lost  their  means  of 
livelihood,  and  but  little  help  could  have  come  from  the  neighbouring  villages, 
which  had  suffered  only  in  a  less  degree.  Everywhere  the  evicted  tenants 
must  have  joined  the  bands  of  vagrants  wandering  over  the  country,  that  were 
becoming  an  increasing  difficulty  and  a  problem  to  the  government. 

With  regard  to  the  status  of  the  inclosers,  one  fact  is  very  striking  in  all 
parts  of  the  county.  The  ecclesiastical  inclosers,  whether  lords  of  manors, 
freeholders,  or  firmors,  were  responsible  for  an  exceptionally  small  proportion 
of  the  whole.  The  abbot  of  Notley  inclosed  60  acres  at  Ashendon  ;  the 
prior  of  Ravenstone,  48  acres  at  Ravenstone;  the  prior  of  Brad  well,  300  acres  in 
Bradwell  and  Wolverton  ;  the  abbot  of  Missenden,  80  acres  at  Great  Missen- 
den  ;  the  prior  of  Snelshall,  20  acres  at  Mursley ;  the  abbot  of  Biddlesden, 
40  acres  at  Thornborough  ;  the  abbess  of  Elstow,  20  acres  at  Moulsoe  ; 
the  abbot  of  Osney,  27  acres  at  Upton  and  90  acres  at  Steeple  Claydon  ;  and 
the  prebendary  of  Buckingham,  30  acres  at  Gawcott.  The  total  amount  of 
land  inclosed  by  ecclesiastics  was  only  715  acres,  but  it  can  to  a  great  extent 
be  explained  by  the  poverty  and  insignificance  of  most  of  the  monasteries  in 
the  county.  Elsewhere  it  was  the  abbots  of  great  monasteries  who  led  the 
inclosing  movements,  but  when  the  ecclesiastical  land  was  scattered  in  small 
pieces  of  freehold  in  different  manors,  inclosure  on  a  large  scale  was  im- 
possible. The  lords  of  manors  were  responsible  for  the  inclosures  on  their 
lands  held  by  firmors  or  copyholders,  and  therefore,  if  these  are  added,  the 
total  inclosed  by  ecclesiastics  is  considerably  raised,  since  the  big  inclosure  at 
Hogshaw  was  carried  out  on  ecclesiastical  land.  Only  one  instance  of 
inclosure  by  a  copyholder  occurs  throughout  the  county,  and,  curiously,  it  is 
the  only  case  in  which  the  evidence  was  false.  John  Godewyn  held  i  mes- 
suage and  161  acres  of  land  by  copy  of  court  roll  of  the  prior  of  St.  Frides- 
wide's,  Oxford,  and  10  acres  of  freehold,  both  at  Over  Winchendon,  and  was 
returned  as  having  inclosed  them  for  pasture.  When  his  case  was  brought 
on  for  trial  it  appeared  that  he  had  not  inclosed  the  land  at  all,  but  had  only 
engrossed  the  two  tenements.  By  far  the  greatest  proportion  of  land  was 
inclosed  by  laymen  of  different  kinds  ;  frequently  it  was  done  by  the  lords  of 
the  manors  themselves,  who  at  this  time  seem  still  in  many  cases  to  have 
farmed  the  demesne  lands  themselves  ;  twenty  firmors,  some  of  whom  held 
the  site  of  the  manor,  or  the  chief  messuage  of  the  manor,  form  another  large 
class  of  inclosers,  but  ordinary  freeholders  formed  the  great  majority. 

At  Castle  Thorpe  the  remarkable  instance  occurs  of  a  large  inclosure 
being  made  on  a  manor  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  by  order  of  a  royal 
official,  in  spite  of  the  statutes  passed  by  Parliament.  The  bailiff  had 
inclosed  100  acres  by  order  of  the  bishop  of  Carlisle,  supervisor  of  the 
lands  of  King  Henry  VII,  and  had  evicted  eighty-eight  inhabitants. 
The  effect  of  his  inclosure  was  to  render  the  common  cultivation  of  other 
tenements  in  the  manor  impossible,  and  the  tenants  had  therefore  to  give 
up  their  lands. 

The  value  of  the  land  when  inclosed  was  generally  given  in  the  return, 
the  average  being  11*62^.  per  acre;  the  value  on  the  large  inclosures  of 
100  acres  or  more  was  considerably  higher  than  that  on  the  smaller  inclosures, 
the  two  averages  being  lyizef.  and  f)'%$d.  respectively. 

64 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  inclosers  had  been  allowed  by  the  Acts  of  1516  and  1517  to  pull 
down  their  inclosures  within  six  months  and  to  repair  the  houses  on  their 
lands,  and  in  the  actions  taken  on  the  evidence  of  this  commission  much  of 
the  land  had  been  thrown  open.  The  effect  of  the  commission  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  permanent.  Much  discontent  was  aroused  in  the  country,  and 
the  feeble  effort  at  repression  made  in  1 549  by  the  issue  of  a  *  proclamation 
for  the  laieng  open  of  enclosures '  was  of  no  avail. 

The  discontent  finally  burst  forth  in  Ket's  rebellion,  and  though  most 
serious  in  Norfolk,  risings  took  place  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  The 
rebels  hoped  that  the  government  would  support  them,  believing  that  the 
proclamation  pledged  it  more  or  less  to  assist  any  movement  against  in- 
closures. Holinshead  describes  the  causes  of  the  rebellion  in  the  south  of 
England  and  the  means  that  were  taken  to  suppress  it  with  a  good  deal  of 
detail  in  the  following  words  : — 

For  where  as  there  were  few  that  obetad  the  commandment,  the  unadvised  people  presum- 
ing upon  their  proclamation,  thinking  that  they  should  be  borne  out  by  them  that  had  set 
it  forth  rashlic  without  order  tooke  upon  themselves  to  redresse  the  matter,  chose  to  them 
capteins  and  leaders,  brake  open  enclosures,  cast  doun  ditches,  killed  up  the  deare,  which 
they  found  in  parkes,  spoiled  and  made  havock,  after  the  manner  of  an  open  rebellion  .  .  . 
First  they  began  to  plaie  these  parts  in  Sommcrsetshire,  Buckinghamshire,  Northampton- 
shire, Kent,  Essex,  and  Lincolnshire. 

The  rebellion  in  the  west  was  put  down  with  severity  by  Sir  William  Her- 
bert, many  of  the  rebels  being  slain  and,  quoting  further  from  the  Chronicle: 

About  the  same  time  that  this  rebellion  .  .  .  began  in  the  west,  the  like  disordered  buries 
were  attempted  in  Oxfordshire  and  Buckinghamshire,  but  they  were  speedilie  appeased  by 
the  Lord  Greie  of  Wilton,  who  comming  downe  that  waie  to  joine  with  the  lord  privie 
seale,  chased  the  rebels  to  their  houses,  of  whome  two  hundred  were  taken  and  a  dozzen  of 
the  ringleaders  to  him  delivered,  where  of  certaine  afterwards  were  executed. 

Ket's  rebellion,  followed  shortly  after  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  and 
the  renewed  outcry  against  inclosures,  has  been  attributed  to  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  old  ecclesiastical  lords  of  the  manor.  The  new  occupants  of 
these  lands  in  Buckinghamshire  most  probably  were  more  ready  to  inclose 
than  the  religious  houses  had  been,  and  whatever  charity  had  been  dispensed 
to  the  evicted  tenants  was  probably  not  continued  by  the  new  tenants  in 
chief  or  the  firmors  of  the  crown.  They  represented  a  new  class  of  men  in 
the  county,  the  lands  often  being  held  by  merchants  or  lawyers  ;  amongst 
the  latter  class,  Sir  John  Baldwyn,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  who  was  the 
lord  of  the  manor  of  Aylesbury,  was  a  prominent  example.  Not  only  did 
the  monastic  lands  come  to  the  crown  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  each 
of  the  numerous  rebellions  and  plots  brought  the  forfeited  lands  of  traitors, 
and  whether  the  fee-simple  was  granted  away  or  whether  they  were  held 
by  indenture  or  letters  patent,  the  new  owner  helped  to  swell  the  class 
of  country  gentlemen  who  gathered  all  local  power  into  their  own  hands. 
Their  influence  in  the  county  was  but  little  connected  with  the  manor, 
which  was  no  longer  the  centre  of  local  government.  The  views  of 
frankpledge  held  in  the  king's  manors  show  the  small  importance  of  mano- 
rial justice.  The  constables  or  tithing  men  merely  paid  their  fine  due  from 
their  township  and  occasionally  made  a  presentment  about  the  highways, 
but  all  effective  administration  had  passed  to  the  justices  of  the  peace.  Not 
2  65  9 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

only  had  the  importance  of  the  manor  in  the  hands  of  the  new  lords  or  the 
king's  bailiff  entirely  disappeared,  but  even  in  the  numerous  places  where  a 
manor  had  been  in  the  same  family  for  successive  generations  it  had  ceased 
in  the  same  way  to  be  the  unit  of  local  life.  Its  place  had  been  taken  by 
the  parish.  Within  the  parish  the  churchwardens,  and  later  the  overseers  of 
the  poor,  were  the  responsible  officials,  while  constables  and  petty  constables 
of  the  townships  made  their  presentments  at  the  quarter  and  petty  sessions 
rather  than  at  the  court-leet  of  the  manor.  The  justices  of  the  peace  trace 
their  origin  to  a  proclamation  of  1195,  appointing  knights  to  receive  the 
oaths  from  all  men  over  fifteen  years  of  age  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
peace.  Gradually  as  the  sheriff's  power  was  undermined  and  the  hundred 
and  shire  courts  in  consequence  lost  their  importance,  the  justices  of  the 
peace  sitting  in  quarter  sessions  formed  the  chief  court  for  criminal  justice 
below  the  jurisdiction  of  the  judges  of  the  assize  and  became  the  chief  ad- 
ministrative and  executive  body  in  the  shire.  There  was  practically  no 
department  in  local  affairs  which  did  not  come  under  their  supervision  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  control  of  the  police  system,  the 
relief  of  the  poor,  and  punishment  of  vagrants,  licensing,  the  repair  of  the 
highways,  formed  perhaps  the  chief  duties  of  the  justices.  In  I  562,149  in  a 
letter  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  William  Tyldsley,  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  one 
of  the  Chiltern  Hundreds,  describes  very  fully  the  local  condition  of  Bucking- 
hamshire. The  Privy  Council  had  issued  letters  to  the  magistrates  of  various 
counties,  ordering  them  to  inquire  into  the  administration  of  certain  statutes. 
Tyldsley  writes  in  a  most  desponding  spirit  : — 

There  came  also  with  them  an  ernest  letter  from  the  Cownsell  which  I  do  perceive, 
hath  caused  in  some  shyres,  a  littell  to  be  done,  and  in  some  shyres  nothing  at  all.  Yea 
and  as  farre  as  I  can  perceyve  they  that  had  begone  to  do  pretelye  well,  begyn  now  to  wax 
so  cold  that  as  me  thynks,  they  be  rather  sor  for  that  they  have  so  well  begonne  than  mynded 
to  continue. 

In  a  postscript  he  adds  : — 

And  yet  me  thynk  I  have  forgotten  one  thing  which  I  ought  to  tell  you,  which  ys  that  in 
all  the  hyther  part  of  Berkshyr,  they  have  done  nothing  at  all,  and  hyt  doith  not  onelye 
hynder  thys  littill  beginning  that  is  here  in  Buckinghamshyre  being  so  nere  joyning 
together,  but  also  others  that  do  border  upon  them. 

For  the  inaction  of  many  of  the  justices  he  finds  excuses  however ;  they  had 
been  away  or  at  court,  while  with  regard  to  Middlesex  he  adds  : — 

I  do  think  they  had  no  letters  or  else  if  they  had,  then  surelye  I  think,  that  coming  unto 
Sir  Roger  Chomeley,  they  be  utterlye  forgotten  in  the  bag  of  his  cote  and  so  nothing  done 
ther,  for  sureley  he  and  Mr.  Chydley  can  better  skyll  of  the  affayres  of  the  cite  then  of 
the  country. 

The  writer  had  obviously  the  good  government  of  his  county  very  much 
at  heart,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  justices  for  the  next  two  cen- 
turies. A  great  deal  of  time  and  trouble  was  expended  by  them  on  local 
affairs,  and  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the  county  sat  on  the  commission  of 
the  peace.  In  the  further  details  of  his  letter  Tyldsley  gave  a  description 
of  the  state  of  the  county,  and  it  was  such  as  might  be  expected  after  the 
long  civil  wars  and  weak  government  of  the  fifteenth  century,  followed  by 
the  agrarian  discontent  and  religious  difficulties  under  the  Tudors.  The 

"•  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  19,  No.  43. 
66 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

rich  men  were  lawless  and  oppressive,  the  poor  were  suffering  great  distress, 
and  in  many  cases  were  disorderly  and  discontented.  The  ale-houses  were 
very  numerous,  being  '  the  stake  and  staye  of  all  false  theves  and  vagabondes.' 
Wine  licences  were  also  the  source  of  trouble,  and  no  remedy  was  possible, 
since  the  wine  sellers  were  *  my  lord's  servants  or  my  master's  servants,  yea 
or  have  such  kynd  of  licenses  and  lycens  out  of  lycens  to  them  and  their 
deputies  and  assignesse.' 

The  power  of  the  local  magnates  and  their  lawlessness  had  not  been 
successfully  repressed,  for  since  the  keeping  of  retainers  was  only  an  offence 
committed  by  great  men,  therefore  it  was  '  of  so  much  danger  to  be  medelled 
with  at  all,  that  hyt  may  at  no  hand  be  touched.'  Again  in  the  question  of 
tillage  or  inclosures  'hyt  is  playne  sacraleage  to  medill  whith  those  matters,  for 
they  be  all  gintilmen  of  the  richer  sortt  of  men,  that  be  offenders  there  in.' 
The  inclosure  of  land  by  the  smaller  freeholders  had  apparently  been  suc- 
cessfully dealt  with  in  1517,  since  in  the  Domesday  of  Inclosures  they  had 
been  answerable  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  total  amount  inclosed,  but 
the  commission  had  been  powerless  to  deal  with  the  greater  offenders. 

Vagabonds  were  numerous,  and  the  repressive  statutes  might  well  have 
been  better  obeyed ;  the  prevalence  of  robberies  was  attributed  to  the  care- 
lessness in  keeping  watch  and  ward  and  to  possible  connivance.  '  Theves,' 
Tyldsley  writes,  '  will  be  theves  for  they  lak  no  frends  and  for  watches  be 
kept  indifferently  well.'  There  arc  no  further  letters  with  such  a  full 
description  of  the  state  of  the  county,  but  in  answer  to  the  orders  of  the  council, 
the  justices  returned  certificates  dealing  with  special  matters,  such  as  the  rate 
of  wages,  the  price  of  corn,  poor  relief,  apprenticing,  and  the  granting  of 
licences,  giving  all  the  information  obtainable  with  regard  to  their  adminis- 
tration, until  the  records  of  quarter  sessions  begin,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

From  the  fifteenth  century  the  justices  of  the  peace  were  empowered 
to  fix  the  scale  of  wages  in  their  counties,  giving  a  maximum  wage,  beyond 
which  no  employer  might  go  except  under  pain  of  a  severe  penalty.  It  is 
generally  supposed  that  these  scales  of  wages  were  inoperative,  and  until 
Elizabeth's  reign,  when  the  statute  of  4  Henry  V  was  re-enacted,  the  magis- 
trates probably  neglected  to  use  their  authority  in  the  matter.  Recognized 
scales  of  wages  are  given  in  several  Acts  of  Parliament,  and  the  rates  can  be 
compared  with  various  entries  of  wages  to  be  found  in  other  sources  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  maximum  wage  was  continually 
exceeded,  and  indeed  the  entries  are  rare  when  so  low  a  rate  as  that  fixed  by 
statute  was  paid. 

It  is  difficult  to  obtain  information  concerning  agricultural  labour,  but 
the  wages  of  carpenters,  tilers,  masons,  &c.,  and  their  labourers  are  numerous. 
By  the  Act  of  6  Hen.  VIII,  cap.  3,  master  masons  were  allowed  jd.  a  day  ; 
free  masons,  carpenters,  plumbers,  and  men  employed  in  similar  trades  had 
6d.  ;  ordinary  labourers  ^d.  ;  but  if  food  was  received  from  the  employer  id. 
less  was  given  in  money  during  the  summer  and  id.  less  in  winter.  At 
Wing"0  in  1537  and  in  the  following  years  the  wages  correspond  with  these 
rates — a  mason  had  yd.  and  an  ordinary  labourer  with  his  food  2d.  Again,  at 
Burnham  U1  a  painter  and  his  man  together  received  is.  2d.  and  a  carpenter 

"•  Wing,  Churchwardens'  Accts.  UI  Burnham,  ibid.  ;  W.  J.  Burgess,  ReeorJt  of  Bucks.  T,  117-19. 

67 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

8d.,  both  just  over  the  statutory  rate  ;  labourers  had  $d.  and  4^.,  and  in  one 
case  only  ^d.  On  the  other  hand  instances  appear  of  a  tiler  receiving  is.  a 
day  and  a  carpenter  1 id.,  showing  that  in  some  cases  the  rate  was  exceeded 
by  a  considerable  amount.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  century  this  became  the 
regular  custom,  and  the  wages  actually  paid  to  workmen  were  often  double 
the  amount  fixed  in  1562  by  the  justices  of  the  peace.  The  scale  had  risen 
in  all  trades  by  zd.  or  id.,  and  the  allowance  for  food  had  also  been  increased 
to  3</.  At  Eton IM  the  tendency  was  to  pay  the  more  skilled  men  wages  above 
the  scale,  and  at  WingU2a  in  1573  a  tiler  got  is.  %d.  a  day  or  more  than 
double  the  rate  fixed  eleven  years  before.163  Similar  instances  continually  appear; 
hence  the  fixed  scale  of  wages  in  1562  may  be  assumed  to  represent  not  the 
maximum  but  the  minimum  rate  paid  in  the  county  to  artisans  and  the  usual 
rate  of  wages  paid  to  common  labourers.  It  was  drawn  up  in  great  detail, 
showing  many  gradations,  especially  in  agricultural  labour,  as  well  as 
variations  according  to  the  time  of  year. 

The  rate  of  day's  wages  during  time  of  harvest  : — 

Mower        Sd.  Mowers  by  the  acre  : — Oats  j.d. 

Man-reaper "jd.  „  „          gross  8d. 

Woman-reaper       ....  6d.  „  „          barley  $d. 

Common  labourer       .     .     .  jd.  „  „          wheat  |  ,  , 

Women  rakers  and  cockers,&c.  $d.  „  „  rye     J 

From  harvest  to  All  Hallowstide  : — Labourers  T,d. 
From  All  Hallowstide  to  Easter  : — Labourers  $d. 
From  Easter  to  harvest : — Labourers  6d. 

ARTIFICERS 

From  Easter  to  From  Michaelmas 

Michaelmas  to  Easter 

Master  carpenters  and  sawyers   .  gd.  "jd. 

Other  men jd.  6d. 

Bricklayers,  tilers,  thatchers  .     .  8d.  6d. 

Other  men 6d.  $d. 

Rates  of  wages  for  servants  at  husbandry,  &c.  : — 

1.  No  bailiff  of  husbandry  shall  take  above  401.  by  the  year  and  for  his  livery  6s.  Sd. 

2.  No  chief  or  head  servant  of  husbandry  shall  take  above  335.  6d.  by  the  year  and  for 

his  livery  6s.  8d. 

3.  No  common  man  servant  at  husbandry  above  265.   8d.  by  the  year  and   for  his 

livery  5*. 

4.  No   man  servant  under  sixteen,  to  take  any  wages  but  only  sufficient  clothes,  meat, 

drink,  and  other  necessaries. 

5.  No  unmarried  woman  servant  above  2Os.  by  the  year  and  for  her  livery  5*. 

6.  If   under  eighteen,  unmarried,  no  wages  but  only  meat,   drink,  clothes,  and   other 

necessaries  as  shall  be  agreed  or  thought  good  by  her  master  or  mistress. 

The  condition  of  the  labourer  and  artisan  with  the  wages  he  received  at 
this  time  must  have  been  considerably  worse  than  in  the  fourteenth  or 
fifteenth  centuries,  owing  to  the  rise  in  prices  having  been  far  greater  than 
the  rise  in  the  rate  of  wages.  A  carpenter  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century  received  ^d.  a  day  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  from  6d. 
upwards,  but  the  average  price  of  wheat  at  the  two  periods  was  51.  6f</.m  a 

151  Eton  Accts.  Bks.  158a  Wing,  Churchwardens'  Accts.  1M  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  19,  No.  43. 

1M  Average  taken  from  entries  in  Mins.  Accts.  for  reigns  of  Edward  III  and  Richard  II. 

68 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

quarter,  51.  5'2*/.m  a  quarter  respectively.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  prices 
are  unfortunately  given  by  the  justices  for  1586-7,"' in  a  time  of  scarcity, 
when  wheat  averaged  $s.  rid',  a  bushel,  or  more  than  eight  times  its  value  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  but  at  Whaddon  in  1584  wheat  was  19^.  4*/.ma  quarter 
in  an  ordinary  year.  Hence  wheat  had  risen  to  nearly  four  times  the  value, 
but  wages,  at  the  highest,  to  twice  the  rate  in  the  preceding  century. 
Barley,  which  was  used  for  bread  in  times  of  dearth,  showed  the  same  rise, 
and  the  average  prices  ran  from  4*.  57^.  U7a  and  3*.  4'53</.us  a  quarter  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  but  in  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  worth 
over  ioj.U8  a  quarter,  and  in  1586— 7"'  reached  an  average  value  of  22s.  8d.  a 
quarter. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  rise  did  not  take  place  early  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  for  at  Wing U8  between  1531  and  1539  barley  varied  from 
3-r.  nd,  to  5-f.  a  quarter. 

The  price  of  wheat  was  so  high  that  barley  largely  replaced  it  in 
common  use,  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  justices  reported  that 
barley  was  dear,  since  it  was  '  the  common  feed  of  the  poore."* 

The  restrictions  on  the  freedom  of  all  workmen  under  the  Tudors  are 
important  in  their  bearing  on  their  prosperity,  since  they  must  have  placed 
them  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  endeavouring  to  obtain  better  wages.  A 
workman  could  not  travel  about  the  country  without  a  passport,  which  he 
was  only  certain  of  receiving  when  he  had  already  obtained  work  elsewhere.160 
The  object  of  these  restrictions  was  to  ensure  a  steady  supply  of  agricultural 
labour  and  prevent  men  emigrating  in  great  numbers  to  places  where  some 
trade  was  especially  flourishing.  The  fluctuations  in  the  larger  trades  made 
this  to  some  extent  a  reasonable  precaution.  In  I5621"  there  had  been 
appointed  by  the  justices  in  every  town  in  the  three  Chiltern  Hundreds  a 
governor  of  labourers,  and  probably  the  same  course  had  been  followed  else- 
where. His  duties  were  to  present  masters  who  gave  too  high  a  rate  of 
wages,  and  to  control  the  comings  and  goings  of  all  labourers.  Without  his 
consent  a  man  might  not  leave  his  town  to  work  elsewhere,  nor  could  any- 
one apprentice  his  son  to  a  trade  unless  he  owned  a  freehold  of  2OJ.  value 
a  year,  but  the  governor  was  to  insist  on  the  boy  becoming  a  servant  in 
husbandry.  When  there  was  a  scarcity  of  labour  in  harvest  time  the  governor 
was  to  apportion  the  men  to  different  masters  without  partiality,  and  to  compel 
all  journeymen  and  apprentices,  if  it  was  necessary,  to  work  in  harvest  time 
at  the  ordinary  rate  of  wages.  Again,  no  labourers  might  move  from  one 
house  to  another  or  leave  the  hundred  without  giving  a  good  reason  to  the 
nearest  justice  and  obtaining  his  leave. 

Restrictions  were  also  placed  on  the  clothes  of  the  agricultural  labourers 
and  servants.  The  cloth  worn  by  them  was  to  be  of  *  mean  and  low  parts,' 

"*  Average  only  obtained  from  two  manors,  but  the  price  of  corn  does  not  seem  to  have  varied  greatly  in 
different  parts  of  the  county. 

*  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  199,  No.  43. 

"'  Thorold  Rogers,  Hist,  of  A  grit,  and  Prices,  vol.  ti. 

1Ma  Average  taken  from  entries  in  Mins.  Accts.  for  reigns  of  Edward  III  and  Richard  II. 

"•  Wing,  Churchwardens'  Accts. ;  Thorold  Rogers,  op.  cit. 

'*  S.P.  Dom.  Jas.  I,  vol.  140,  No.  19.  The  rise  in  prices  was  due  partly  to  the  influx  of  silver  into 
Europe  after  the  discovery  of  the  Mexican  silver  mines,  and  partly  to  the  debasement  of  the  coinage  by 
Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI. 

164  This  restriction  was  first  made  in  a  statute  of  1388.  "  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  9,  No.  43. 

69 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

and  it  was  not  to  '  be  jagged  or  cut,'  nor  was  a  ruffled  shirt  to  be  worn.  The 
same  orders  also  applied  to  journeymen  and  apprentices,  and  tailors  who 
supplied  any  of  the  prohibited  finery  were  mulcted  6oj.  for  each  offence. 

For  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  is  no  scale  of  wages 
given  by  the  justices,  but  from  other  sources  of  information  it  appears  that 
a  slight  rise  took  place.  At  Wing m  there  was  a  parish  mole-catcher  who 
was  paid  by  the  year  ;  he  had  formerly  received  26s.  8d.  from  the  church- 
wardens, the  maximum  wage  for  a  common  servant  in  husbandry  in  1562. 
It  was  arranged,  however,  that  the  parish  was  in  future  to  pay  him  only  half 
that  sum,  for  work  in  Wing  field  and  Wing  mead,  but  that  owners  of 
inclosed  land  were  to  pay  him  themselves  for  work  that  he  did  for  them.  In 
another  case,  an  artisan  who  worked  in  the  church  and  must  have  been  either 
a  carpenter  or  mason  received  is.  2d.  a  day.  At  Eton163  artisans'  labourers 
received  lod.  or  is.  a  day.  At  Horton,16*  where  paper-mills  had  been  estab- 
lished, the  workmen  and  labourers  were  said  to  be  paid  double  the  rate  of 
wages  of  ordinary  day-labourers.  When  the  mills  were  stopped  during  a 
time  of  plague  in  1636,  the  manufacturer  petitioned  for  relief,  and  amongst 
other  items  there  appeared  45^.  a  week  for  his  man  and  four  apprentices  ;  if 
they  all  were  paid  at  the  same  rate,  they  would  each  have  received  is.  6d.  a 
day,  considerably  above  the  rate  of  artisans'  labour  elsewhere,  but  in  all  pro- 
bability the  apprentices  would  have  had  less  than  a  man  who  appears  to  have 
been  the  head  man  at  the  paper-mill.  Unfortunately  there  is  no  mention  of 
the  number  of  the  other  labourers  for  whom  £5  a  week  was  required.  There 
were,  however,  twelve  paper-mills  in  Buckinghamshire  in  which  a  consider- 
able number  of  men  must  have  been  employed  at  a  high  rate  of  wages.  At 
this  time,  however,  the  market  price  of  corn  was  extremely  high,  and  at 
several  epochs  scarcity  prices  prevailed  throughout  the  county,  in  spite  of  the 
interference  of  the  justices  ;  at  Eton185  in  1600,  at  the  close  of  a  period  of 
dearth,  wheat  was42J.  8d.  a  quarter,  but  during  the  next  years  it  had  dropped 
to  3U.  4*/.  and  26s.  8d.,  the  lowest  price  for  several  years.  It  was  over  40^. 
a  quarter  in  1607,  and  in  1622  the  justices166  of  the  peace  in  the  three 
hundreds  of  Aylesbury  reported  that  it  had  been  as  high  as  6oj.  a  quarter. 
Still  it  was  the  custom,  in  some  parts  of  the  county  at  least,  to  sell  to  the 
poor  at  a  lower  rate,  at  the  corn-masters'  own  houses,  so  that  the  market  price 
given  by  the  justices  does  not  show  the  real  price  paid  by  the  labourers  them- 
selves. An  adequate  supply  of  corn  in  this  long  period  of  scarcity  cannot 
have  been  within  their  means,  since  charitably  inclined  people  bought  rye, 
which  was  not  grown  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  sold  it  at  less  than  cost  price 
to  the  poor.  Less  than  ten  years  later  the  justices  were  again  forced  to 
regulate  the  sale  of  corn  in  the  markets,  since  in  Desborough  Hundred  w 
wheat  had  reached  the  price  of  jzs.  a  quarter,  while  barley  was  dearest  in 
Cottesloe  and  Buckingham 167  Hundreds  at  48^.  a  quarter. 

Until  1687  188  none  of  the  scales  of  wages  drawn  up  at  quarter  sessions 
has  been  preserved,  but  in  that  year  the  scale  shows  that  the  necessity  of  a 
rise  had  been  recognized  by  the  magistrates,  though  with  but  little  approach 

163  Wing,  Churchwardens'  Accts.  163  Eton  Acct.  Bks. 

164  S.P.  Dom.  Chas.  I,  vol.  344,  No.  40.  165  Eton  Acct.  Bks. 

16;  S.P.  Dom.  Jas.  I,  vol.  140,  No.  19.  16?  Ibid.  vol.  142,  No.  44. 

168  Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  1687. 

70 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

to  the  actual  wages  which  masters  were  content  to  pay  for  labour.  The  laws 
against  masters  who  gave  more  than  the  legal  wage  were,  however,  not  en- 
forced; there  are  no  presentments  of  such  offences,  and  the  bench  "'  of  magis- 
trates even  ordered  a  master  to  pay  his  servant  wages  that  were  due  to  her 
at  the  rate  of  32*.  for  the  half  year,  although  this  exceeded  by  js.  the 
maximum  amount  for  the  most  highly  paid  woman-servants. 

The  scale  shows,  however,  that  agricultural  wages  were  lower  in  the 
Vale  than  in  the  Chilterns  in  the  case  of  servants  hired  by  the  year.  The 
chief  bailiff  in  husbandry  had  £6  in  the  Chilterns,  but  only  £5  in  the  Vale  ; 
for  ordinary  farm  servants  this  difference  does  not  appear,  all  having  £4,  but 
the  boys  both  under  and  over  sixteen  received  less  in  the  Vale.  The  pay- 
ment of  boys  from  twelve  years  old  was  a  new  development  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  since  in  1 562  no  servant  under  sixteen  years  of  age  was  allowed 
to  take  any  wages  in  money,  but  only  his  clothes  and  board.  Another 
feature  in  this  scale  of  wages  is  the  varying  amount  allowed  instead  of  meat 
and  drink  ;  for  a  mower  or  reaper,  the  allowance  was  8</.  a  day,  but  for  men 
hay-makers  only  $d.\  ordinary  labourers  out  of  harvest-time  received  ^d.  ; 
some  women  again  had  ^d.  and  others  not  more  than  ^d.  The  same  varia- 
tions occur  amongst  the  artisans,  the  food  allowance  varying  from  ^d.  for  the 
yelmers  to  SJ.  for  the  more  skilled  artisans  in  summer,  but  the  latter  in  winter 
only  received  t^d.  in  lieu  of  food. 

It  is  perhaps  interesting  to  enumerate  the  trades  which  appeared  in  the 
scale  in  order  to  show  the  commonest  occupations  in  the  county. 

Free  masons  were  the  most  highly  paid  artisans,  then  followed  rough 
masons,  carpenters,  plough-wrights,  bricklayers,  tilers  and  plasterers,  gardeners, 
and  finally  thatchers,  servants  of  thatchers, yelmers,  tailors,  sawyers,  and  spinners. 
The  wages  were  fixed  evidently  with  a  view  to  regulating  the  payments  for 
agricultural  labour  and  those  trades  which  were  practised  in  country  districts. 
The  men  in  the  paper  mills,  weavers  and  others  employed  in  the  clothing 
trade,  for  instance,  did  not  come  under  the  magistrates'  restrictions.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  regular  rate  for  ordinary  labour  seems  already  to  have  been 
is.  m  a  day  with  but  little  variation,  though  the  legal  amount  was  8</.  at 
most  ;  but  in  the  more  skilled  work  the  difference  as  usual  was  even  greater. 
Instead  of  is.  zd.  a  bricklayer  was  entered  as  receiving  2J.,  a  carpenter 
is.  6d.,  and  a  plumber,  whose  trade  did  not  appear  in  the  scale  of  wages,  had 
2s.  bd.  a  day."1 

Undoubtedly  the  question  of  the  greatest  historical  importance  dealt 
with  by  the  justices  of  the  peace  was  the  administration  of  poor  relief, 
since  the  central  government,  as  it  gradually  assumed  responsibility  in  the 
matter,  acted  almost  entirely  through  the  local  magistrates  of  the  county  and 
borough.  In  mediaeval  times  the  relief  of  poverty  was  left  entirely  to  private 
charity.  The  monasteries  gave  largely  and  indiscriminately  to  all  who  came 
to  their  doors  ;  the  nobles  kept  open  tables,  while,  for  the  old,  almshouses  and 
hospitals  were  numerous  all  over  the  country.  Large  towns  sometimes  had 
organized  the  charitable  benefactions  of  their  citizens  by  the  action  of  the 
municipality,  but  the  government  took  no  real  responsibility  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor  until  the  sixteenth  century. 

'*  Quart.  Scss.  Rec.  uo  n.  a  day  was  paid  at  Ayletbury,  Eton,  and  Wing. 

171  Wing,  Churchwardens'  Acct». 

7' 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

The  first  interference  with  the  condition  of  the  labourers  was  entirely  in 
the  interests  of  the  employers,  to  keep  down  wages  and  secure  a  larger 
supply  of  labour,  but  nevertheless  it  was  very  closely  connected  with  the 
later  poor  laws.  The  Statute  of  Labourers  restrained  the  liberty  of  the  giver, 
who  was  forbidden  to  give  alms  to  able-bodied  beggars,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  forced  to  work  for  their  living.  In  1388  an  Act  of  Parliament 
admitted  the  right  of  those  who  could  not  work  to  relief,  but  restrained  the 
movements  of  all  beggars  and  labourers.  Servants  who  wished  to  leave  their 
hundred,  either  for  change  of  work  or  for  a  pilgrimage,  could  only  do  so 
when  they  had  obtained  a  letter  duly  signed  by  the  head  man  of  the  hundred. 
Anyone,  whether  beggar  or  labourer,  found  wandering  without  such  a  letter 
was  to  be  put  in  the  stocks  and  kept  there  until  a  surety  was  found  for  his 
return.  Even  impotent  beggars  might  not  wander  about  the  country,  but 
must  obtain  support  in  their  own  neighbourhood.  At  the  same  time  various 
Acts  were  passed  for  controlling  religious  endowments,  which  were  continu- 
ally diverted  from  their  original  objects.171 

In  Henry  VII's  reign  there  were  further  enactments  against  beggars 
and  vagabonds,  with  less  severe  punishments,  but  probably  the  offenders  were 
not  very  numerous.  The  views  of  frankpledge  give  little  evidence  that 
the  vagrancy  question  caused  much  difficulty,  but  at  Newport  Pagnel,178  the 
case  of  a  vagrant  who  was  punished  according  to  the  statute  was  interesting 
from  the  rarity  of  such  a  presentment  at  a  court-leet  in  the  next  reign. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  a  great  change  came  over  the  attitude  of  the 
government.  The  question  was  no  longer  one  of  forcing  men  to  work  for 
lower  wages,  but  of  providing  work  for  the  unemployed  and  food  for  them 
at  a  reasonable  price.  This  change  was  due  to  the  great  increase  of  vagrancy 
resulting  from  various  causes,  but  in  Buckinghamshire  undoubtedly  from  the 
inclosure  of  arable  land  and  its  conversion  to  pasture  and  the  consequent  loss 
by  the  evicted  tenants  of  both  houses  and  work. 

How  far  the  monasteries  before  the  Dissolution  had  effectually  relieved 
the  distress  it  seems  impossible  to  estimate,  but  they  were  for  the 
most  part  very  small  and  poor.174  Few  but  Notley  Abbey  and  perhaps 
Missenden  could  have  given  sufficient  alms  to  relieve  on  any  large  scale,  so 
that  probably  the  unemployed  labourers  had  from  the  first  swelled  the  large 
body  of  vagrants.  The  rise  in  prices,  due  to  the  debasement  of  the  coinage 
in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI  and  to  the  influx  of  silver  to 
the  country,  affected  food  before  wages,  and  therefore  the  condition  of  men 
who  were  in  employment  was  comparatively  much  worse  than  had  been 
the  case. 

The  crisis  in  the  cloth  trade  must  have  affected  Buckinghamshire  less 
than  the  neighbouring  counties,  though  in  some  places  a  considerable 
number  of  men  were  engaged  in  the  trade,  particularly  at  Wycombe. 
In  the  municipal  records  of  the  town  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  there  is  an 
order  for  weavers  and  fullers  very  much  more  stringent  than  the  only  earlier 
order175  extant,  by  which  weavers  were  to  be  quit  of  all  dues  to  the  Gild. 
of  Merchants  excepting  stallage  in  the  market.  The  later  order 176  laid 

m  e.g.  Hospitals  at  Wjrcombe  and  New-port  Pagnel.  "*  P.R.O.  Ct.  R.  ptfo.  153,  No.  I. 

174  Cf.  value  of  different  monasteries  at  the  time  of  the  Dissolution  ;  Dugdale,  Mm. 

m  Municipal  Records  of  Chepping  Wycombe.  I7t  Ibid.  temp.  Hen.  VIII. 

72 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

various  restrictions  on  tradesmen  in  the  town.  No  person  weaving  or 
fulling  was  to  occupy  more  than  one  such  trade  ;  he  must  have  been  either 
apprenticed  in  the  borough,  or  else  brought  up  in  his  youth  with  craftsmen  of 
the  same  occupation  ;  no  c  occupyers  of  the  crafts  of  wevyng,  fullyng,  or 
clothyng '  were  to  *  put  forth  any  of  their  work  to  dy  or  full  otherwise  than 
to  craftsmen  of  the  same  boro'  occupying  that  trade.'  This  was  the  earliest  of 
many  orders  to  craftsmen  of  all  kinds,  limiting  their  freedom  in  their  trades, 
and  though  undated  was  probably  due  to  the  crisis  in  the  wool  trade  brought 
about  by  Wolsey's  foreign  policy  in  1527- 8,m  since  its  object  was  to  protect 
the  established  weavers  and  fullers  in  the  borough  from  the  competition 
of  new  comers  driven  to  the  town  by  the  loss  of  work  elsewhere. 

The  distress  arising  from  the  various  causes  enumerated  led  to  the 
passing  of  a  series  of  statutes  terminating  in  the  Poor  Laws  of  1597  and 
1 60 1,  and  simultaneously  the  Privy  Council,  by  means  of  orders  to  the 
magistrates  of  various  counties  and  towns,  attempted  to  alter  and  amend  the 
economic  condition  of  the  country. 

Between  1514  and  1569  there  are  many  of  the  Council's  proclamations 
to  be  found  amongst  the  state  papers  of  the  time.  The  commission  on 
inclosures  has  already  been  dealt  with  in  its  relation  to  Buckinghamshire, 
but  otherwise  there  are  no  returns  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  in  answer  to 
the  letters  of  the  Council,  until  the  letter  written  by  William  Tyldsley,  in 
I562,178  apparently  in  answer  to  the  instructions  of  1561."* 

The  statutes  dealt  mainly  with  vagrancy,  and  the  compulsory  apprentice- 
ship of  poor  children,  but  important  steps  were  taken  for  the  collection  of 
funds  in  each  parish.  No.t  until  1572,  however,  was  any  advance  made 
towards  a  compulsory  poor  rate. 

In  1547  an  Act  was  passed  ordering  cottages  to  be  erected  for  the 
impotent  poor,  and  in  1551—2  alms  were  to  be  collected  in  every  parish 
by  collectors  nominated  by  the  householders  of  each  parish.  There  was 
no  compulsion,  however,  on  the  givers  of  the  alms,  but  their  generosity  was 
to  be  encouraged  by  the  exhortations  of  the  parsons  and  the  bishop. 

The  poor  box  is  mentioned  in  1562  in  Tyldsley's  report,  and  those  who 
made  default  in  coming  to  church  were  to  be  presented  by  the  church- 
wardens, the  collectors  of  the  poor-men's  box,  or  two  of  the  best  men 
in  every  parish,  once  a  month  to  the  grand  jury.  The  fines  arising  from 
these  presentments  were  to  go  to  the  poor  box,  but  evidently  regular 
collectors  were  not  to  be  found  in  every  parish  at  this  time  :  at  Wing  18°  in 
the  churchwardens'  accounts  they  do  not  appear  until  1577.  The  only 
entries  before  that  year  record  payments  to  the  poor  of  varying  amounts 
on  All  Souls'  Day. 

In  1572  the  justices  and  mayors  were  empowered  to  assess  the  poor  rate 
and  appoint  overseers  and  collectors.  Those  who  resisted  the  exhortations  of 
the  bishop  to  contribute  to  the  rate  might  be  taken  before  two  magistrates 
and  imprisoned,  but  there  was  still  no  distraint  on  non-payment. 

The  necessity  for  a  compulsory  poor  rate  arose  in  the  first  place  owing 
to  the  vagrancy  laws,181  which  had  ordered,  that  after  a  vagrant  had  been 

"'  The  town  of  Buckingham  luffcred  when  the  staple  for  wool  was  altered  to  Calaii  and  sought  relief 
by  an  Act  of  Parliament  1535;  Browne  Willis,  H'ul.  of  Borough  and  HunJrtJ  of  Buckingham. 
"*  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  19,  No.  13.  "»  Sloane  MS.  152,  foL  16. 

'"  Churchwardens'  Accu.  «"  ai  Hen.  VIII. 

2  73  10 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

whipped  in  the  market  town  nearest  to  the  place,  where  he  was  arrested,  he 
was  to  be  sent  back  to  his  place  of  birth,  or  to  the  place  where  he  had  last 
dwelt  three  years,  and  there  work  for  his  own  living.  The  Act  of  I536183 
stated  that  no  directions  had  previously  been  made  for  the  provision  of  work 
for  the  returned  vagrant,  and  therefore  ordered  funds  to  be  established  with 
this  object.  In  1562  the  report  showed  that  the  vagrancy  laws  might  have 
been  better  observed,  and  that  the  number  of  ale-houses  encouraged  thieves 
and  vagants  to  a  dangerous  extent.  Ten  years  later  the  justices  for  the  three 
hundreds  of  Aylesbury  made  a  return  18S  showing  that  they  had  dealt  with 
eleven  vagrants  and  conveyed  them  towards  the  place  where  they  had  last 
dwelt.  A  certificate  of  1577"*  may  also  bear  on  the  question  of  vagrants, 
for  the  justices  had  drawn  up  a  complete  list  of  all  inns  and  ale-houses  in  the 
county  amounting  to  a  total  of  422. 

Various  Acts  had  provided  for  the  return  of  vagrants  to  the  place  of 
their  birth,  but  it  was  not  till  1575  186  that  any  particular  orders  were  given 
for  setting  them  to  work  on  their  arrival.  The  new  Act  ordered  a  stock  of 
wool,  flax,  hemp,  iron,  or  other  materials  to  be  provided  in  every  city, 
corporate  town,  or  market  town,  when  so  ordered  by  the  justices,  so  that  the 
unemployed  poor  might  earn  their  own  living  and  the  young  be  taught  to 
work.  Houses  of  correction  were  to  be  built  in  every  county,  but  of  these 
the  justices  make  no  return  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Apart  from  statutory  enactment,  the  Privy  Council  made  direct  efforts 
to  relieve  special  distress.  The  years  1572,  1586,  and  from  159410  1597 
were  periods  of  great  scarcity  of  corn,  and,  owing  to  the  small  area  from 
which  markets  could  be  supplied,  the  failure  of  the  harvest  meant  absolute 
starvation  to  a  great  part  of  the  population.  The  council  interfered,  prob- 
ably to  prevent  the  disorders  always  following  on  a  great  scarcity  of  corn, 
and  in  I586186  the  returns  illustrate  very  fully  the  method  of  dealing  with 
the  question. 

The  justices  of  the  peace  apportioned  themselves  into  small  groups 
in  the  different  hundreds,  and  each  group  was  responsible  for  carrying  out 
the  council's  instructions  in  one  particular  division.  In  the  three 
hundreds  of  Cottesloe,187  the  magistrates  reported  that  they  had  chosen  forty- 
three  persons,  who  were  divided  into  three  juries,  to  make  the  necessary 
inquiries.  The  juries  found  that  there  was  very  little  corn  to  spare  in  the 
county,  '  for  as  many  as  have  a  surplus,  as  many  need  corn,'  but  those  who 
had  such  a  surplus  were  ordered  to  bring  it  to  market  by  weekly  portions. 
The  justices  themselves  had  called  before  them  all  badgers,  bakers,  brewers, 
ale-house  keepers,  and  malt  makers,  and  had  dealt  with  them  according  to 
the  instructions,  in  order  to  prevent  the  badgers  and  corn-dealers  from  buying 
corn  to  re-sell  at  an  increased  price,  and  the  brewers,  &c.,  from  using  the 
barley,  which  would  otherwise  be  made  into  bread. 

They  had  also  set  up  in  market  towns  and  other  places  overseers, 
'  honest,  and  discreet  persons,'  to  see  to  the  carrying  out  of  these  orders  as 
well  as  to  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and,  lastly,  they  gave  the  current  price  of 
corn.  A  joint  certificate  was  drawn  up  for  the  hundreds  of  Buckingham 
and  Newport,188  where  the  same  procedure  had  been  followed,  but  it  was 

181  27  Hen.  VIII.  m  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  86,  No.  27.  1M  Ibid.  vol.  115,  No.  27. 

84  1 8  Eliz.  cap.  3.  "•  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  199,  No.  43.  187  Ibid.  (i).         lai  Ibid.  (v). 

74 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

added  that  the  markets  were  not  so  well  supplied  as  formerly,  owing  to  the 
counties  of  Northampton  and  Oxford  having  '  mad  restraynte  that  none 
maie  bring  anie  corne  oute  of  theire  Countie  in  to  ours,  which  before 
were  greater  reliefe  to  us,  than  anie  parte  of  our  owne  Shyre.'  The  southern 
parts  of  these  hundreds  at  least,  contained  a  greater  proportion  of  pasture 
land  than  arable,  so  that  they  would  have  largely  depended  on  corn  from 
other  counties.  The  prices  quoted  were  slightly  higher  than  in  Cottesloe 
Hundred. 

In  1577  the  justices 189  were  ordered  to  interfere  in  the  wool  trade,  and 
they  returned  a  certificate  to  the  effect  that  they  had  bound  the  '  Broggers 
and  buyers  of  wooll' in  £100  a  piece,  that  neither  they  nor  their  heirs  would 
buy  any  kind  of  wool  that  had  been  grown  within  the  county  beyond  what 
they  or  their  apprentices  were  able  to  use  each  in  his  own  house.  They 
were  further  forbidden  to  buy  any  wool  in  order  to  sell  it  again  wholesale, 
but  the  justices  found  that  even  those  who  had  had  licence  to  buy  granted 
them,  had  obeyed  the  proclamation  of  the  council. 

The  legislation  for  poor  relief  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  brought  to 
its  conclusion  by  the  Acts  of  1597  and  1601,  the  latter  in  all  essential  points 
a  re-enactment  of  the  previous  statute,  with  certain  amendments. 

These  Acts  formed  the  basis  of  poor-law  administration  until  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  not  only  were  they  important  in  this  respect, 
but  they  seem  to  have  been  far  more  efficiently  carried  out  than  earlier 
enactments. 

The  main  clauses  provided  that  the  relief  of  the  poor  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  churchwardens  and  four  overseers  of  the  poor  appointed  yearly 
by  the  justices  of  the  peace. 

Poor  children  were  to  be  taught  some  employment  or  apprenticed  ; 
adults  were  to  be  employed  and  stock  was  to  be  provided  for  those  who  could 
not  find  work. 

The  impotent,  the  blind,  and  the  aged  were  to  be  relieved  and  hospitals 
might  be  built  on  waste  lands  for  their  reception.  With  regard  to  the  funds 
necessary  to  carry  out  these  instructions  a  rate  was  levied  on  '  every  in- 
habitant and  occupyer  of  landes,'  and  on  refusal  to  pay  it  might  be 
levied  by  distress.  The  assessment  was  made  by  the  parochial  officers  with 
the  consent  of  two  justices,  but  any  appeal  was  to  be  made  at  quarter  sessions. 
A  county  rate  was  also  established  for  the  relief  of  prisoners  and  for  the 
support  of  almshouses,  &c.,  administered  by  a  treasurer  of  the  county 
appointed  by  the  justices.  All  beggars  and  rogues  were  forbidden  to  wander 
about  the  county,  excepting  those  who  begged  from  fellow  parishioners,  and 
licensed  soldiers  and  sailors  passing  to  their  place  of  settlement. 

This  statute  was  supplemented  by  an  Act  for  the  punishment  of  rogues, 
vagrants,  and  sturdy  beggars.  All  old  statutes  were  repealed,  and  justices 
were  to  establish  houses  of  correction  to  which  vagrants  were  to  be  sent  after 
having  been  whipped  at  the  place  of  arrest. 

The  Acts  seem  to  have  been  well  carried  out.  In  the  accounts  at 
Wing190  after  1615  entries  are  continually  made  of  money  paid  to  travellers 
with  a  passport  and  to  '  poor  men,'  the  occasion  not  always  being  specified, 
though  often  the  relief  is  given  on  account  of  losses  by  fire,  shipwreck,  or  illness. 

"*  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  vol.  115,  No.  8.  "°  Churchwardens'  Accts. 

75 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

The  council  by  its  direct  action  attempted  to  enforce  the  law,  mainly 
by  means  of  letters  to  the  justices  of  the  peace.  These  letters  were  no 
longer  confined  to  special  times  of  distress,  but  deal  continually  in  the 
reigns  of  the  first  two  Stuart  kings  with  the  ordinary  administration  of  the 
poor  law. 

In  the  year  1603  was  a  visitation  of  the  plague,  and  at  Wing  the  church- 
wardens paid  3-r.  for  two  books  of  prayer  in  the  time  of  plague  and  for  the 
letters  of  the  council. 

No  Buckinghamshire  returns  exist  during  the  scarcity  of  1608,  but  they 
are  full  in  1622—3  and  1631,  dealing  not  only  with  the  provision  of  corn 
but  with  the  whole  system  of  poor  relief.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  differ- 
ence between  private  charity  and  public  relief  is  unnoticed,  and  the  justices 
report  their  own  action  in  the  market  and  the  charity  of  private  people  as 
similar  efforts  to  deal  with  the  difficulty.  There  is  an  extremely  interesting 
return  for  Desborough m  Hundred  in  1622,  including  the  report  of  the 
mayor  of  Wycombe.  The  same  course  of  action  to  lower  the  price  of  corn 
was  pursued  as  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  and  in  addition  corn-masters  served  the 
poor  at  their  own  houses  upon  credit,  which  they  would  not  do  in  the 
market, — and  thus  the  poor  obtained  sufficient  food.  In  various  parishes 
men  had  bought  rye  in  London  out  of  their  own  purses  for  the  poor  and  sold 
it  at  less  than  cost  price.  The  poor,  as  far  as  possible,  had  been  given 
employment,  but  their  poverty  was  ascribed  to  the  condition  of  the  clothing 
and  bone-lace  trades,  both  of  which  were  '  much  decayed  and  do  daylie 
fayl.'  In  consequence  there  were  no  means  to  set  the  poor  in  work,  although 
help  was  afforded  so  far  as  the  stocks  and  collections  of  every  parish  allowed. 
In  the  town  of  Wycombe  there  were  as  many  as  a  hundred  people  out  of 
work,  and  other  towns  suffered  from  the  same  cause,  since  lack  of  employment 
was  far  more  serious  than  the  scarcity  of  corn,  and  the  poor  could  only  starve 
or  steal  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  monthly  collections  in  many  parishes  had 
been  doubled.  Assistant  constables  had  been  appointed  to  deal  with  vagrants, 
their  numbers  being  too  numerous  for  the  ordinary  constables,  and  many  ale- 
house licences  had  been  taken  away.  In  1631  there  are  returns  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  county.  In  Desborough  Hundred192  in  this  year  there  was 
a  shortage  of  corn,  though  Wycombe  market  was  well  supplied  from 
Oxfordshire,  Berkshire,  and  Hampshire.  It  was  the  only  market  in  the 
hundred,  and  part  of  Ashendon  Hundred198  must  also  have  been  dependent 
on  it,  since  there  was  no  market  at  all  according  to  the  certificate,  the  land 
being  nearly  all  pasture  and  '  gentlemen's  demaynes.'  The  market  of 
Buckingham  also  was  well  supplied  from  Oxfordshire,  and  hence,  with  the 
suppression  of  maltsters  and  brewers,  prices  had  abated. 

In  the  borough m  itself,  the  magistrates  report  that  the  poor  did  not 
beg  in  their  own  parish  and  had  no  cause  to  beg  elsewhere,  since  they  were 
all  well  relieved  and  given  work,  but  the  inhabitants  grumbled  at  the  heavy 
weekly  taxation  more  than  the  poor  at  the  restrictions  on  begging.  Vagrants 
were  few,  because  watch  and  ward  were  well  kept,  and  the  townspeople  no 
longer  gave  to  strange  poor  when  they  might  not  do  so  to  their  own  people  ; 
and  further,  a  penalty  had  been  imposed  on  those  who  relieved  vagrants,  in  a 

191  S.P.  Dom.  Jas.  I,  vol.  142,  No.  44.  191  Ibid.  Chas.  I,  vol.  191,  No.  35  (iv). 

193  Ibid.  vol.  191,  No.  35  (iii).  194  Ibid.  vol.  197,  No.  46. 

.,       76 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

by-law  made  at  a  court-leet.  Vagrancy,  however,  was  not  a  serious  question, 
since  few  vagrants  came  through  that  part  of  the  country.  Writing  in  July 
the  justices  said  that  they  had  delayed  apprenticing  poor  children,  so  that 
they  might  work  at  harvest  time  for  their  parents,  but  in  October  thirty 
children  had  been  placed  with  masters,  all  living  in  the  parish. 

The  reports  from  the  hundreds  of  Cottesloe  and  Aylesbury  show  that 
the  administration  was  carried  on  in  the  same  manner  ;  in  the  latter  it  was 
again  the  custom  to  serve  the  poor  with  corn  at  the  corn-master's  house,  and  the 
justices  had  insisted  on  a  true  weight  of  bread  being  sold  in  the  market, 
punishing  bakers  who  sold  false  weight  and  appointing  surveyors  of  weights 
and  measures  in  each  town. 

Whether  the  action  of  the  justices,  under  the  books  of  order  issued  by 
the  council,  was  successful  is  difficult  to  ascertain.  The  interference  of  the 
council  and  the  supervision  of  the  judges  of  assize1"  certainly  produced  great 
activity  amongst  the  justices  themselves,  but  of  the  action  of  the  overseers  in 
the  parishes  it  is  more  difficult  to  form  an  estimate.  The  actual  relief  of  the 
impotent  poor  was  entirely  in  their  hands,  as  well  as  the  provision  of  work 
for  the  able-bodied.  The  town  stock  seems  to  have  been  kept  up  in  the 
various  hundreds,  but  how  the  work  was  arranged  does  not  appear.  Probably 
the  labourers  worked  largely  at  their  own  homes,  for  at  Wing  there  is  no 
mention  of  a  workhouse.  At  Aylesbury,  however,  after  the  Civil  War  there 
was  a  workhouse,  where  children  were  taught  trades  and  the  poor  worked  on 
the  town  stock.  No  mention  is  made  of  its  erection  in  the  accounts,  so  that 
presumably  it  was  built  in  the  first  half  of  the  century  or  still  earlier.  The 
impotent  were  largely  provided  for  in  almshouses,  many  of  which  were  built 
in  Buckinghamshire  at  this  time.1** 

The  interference  with  the  markets  was  attended  with  complete  success, 
though  it  was  very  unpopular  at  such  a  place  as  Wycombe,  a  large  corn 
market  for  the  surrounding  counties.  A  protest 1W  was  sent  to  the  council  by 
the  mayor,  showing  that  the  justices  had  perhaps  defeated  their  own  ends, 
since  both  corn-dealers  and  farmers  lost  so  heavily  by  the  artificial  low  prices 
that  they  would  no  longer  set  aside  sacks  for  the  poor  as  they  had  formerly 
done.  The  justices,  therefore,  had  themselves  bought  corn  to  sell  to  the  poor 
at  less  than  the  market  prices. 

This  protest  shows,  however,  that  the  prices  were  lowered  by  their 
action,  and  that  the  interference  was  thought  beneficial  even  by  men  who 
were  landowners  themselves  ;  for  John  Hampden,  Sir  Fleetwood  Dormer, 
and  Sir  Robert  Lovett  were  amongst  the  many  landowners  who  were  on  the 
commission  of  the  peace  at  the  time,  and  their  action  in  the  markets  must 
have  been  directly  opposed  to  their  own  interests.  No  protests  came  from 
the  other  towns,  which  were  not  likely  to  be  affected  so  much  as  Wycombe. 

After  the  Civil  War  the  overseers'  accounts1'8  for  Aylesbury  are  preserved, 
and  show  very  fully  the  system  of  poor  relief.  Collections  in  the  parish  made 
fortnightly  amounted  to  from  £3  to  £4  in  1657.  In  the  previous  year 
thirty-five  persons  were  receiving  relief  in  money,  the  amounts  varying  from 
\od.  to  6s.  a  fortnight,  while  the  relief  for  the  hamlet  of  Walton  was  entered 

M  Rcturni  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  were  at  times  addressed  to  the  judges  of  assize. 

"*  e.g.  the  almshouse  at  Newport  Pagnel  was  refounded  by  Anne  of  Denmark. 

'"  S.P.  Dom.  Chas.  I,  vol.  177,  No.  50.  ™  The  accounts  begin  in  1656. 

77 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

in  a  lump  sum  of  6s.  for  the  widows  there.  The  recipients  were  all  either 
widows  or  children,  the  latter  having  been  boarded  out,  but  as  their  age  is 
not  given  no  estimate  of  the  cost  of  their  maintenance  can  be  formed.  Their 
clothes  were  also  provided  ;  in  the  same  year  the  entry  under  this  head 
included  '  2  aprons,  2  queafes,  a  paire  of  bodies,  making  two  smocks,'  for 
3-f.  i  od.  Clothes  were  bought  for  other  paupers  as  well,  linen  for  the  poor 
being  a  frequent  entry,  as  well  as  outfits  for  boys  who  were  apprenticed — 
£i  os.  6d.  was  paid  for  the  clothes  of  'Sam  Bankes  boy'  when  he  went  to 
London  as  an  apprentice.  The  overseers  also  attended  to  the  repair  of  the 
almshouses,  but  these  do  not  seem  to  have  provided  house  room  for  those  sup- 
ported, nor  were  rents  paid  out  of  the  poor  rates  until  1670,  when  Mr.  Diggit 
received  $s.  6d.  '  for  old  Howes  quit  rent  in  Walton.'  How  the  house  room 
was  provided  before  this  date  does  not  appear,  but  the  widows  may  have  lived 
as  inmates  or  lodgers  in  other  houses  or  with  their  children.  In  one  case  a 
daughter  was  given  zs.  for  looking  after  her  mother,  but  this  seems  an 
exceptional  case,  and  relations  were  probably  required  to  do  something 
towards  supporting  old  people  and  children  where  possible.  For  instance,  a 
man  named  Anthony  Todd  died  in  1677,  and  his  children  were  provided  for 
by  the  overseers.  Their  father  appears  to  have  been  fairly  well  off,  since 
the  sale  of  his  effects  includes  four  mares,  three  cows,  two  heifers,  seventy-three 
sheep  and  lambs,  a  little  corn  and  a  wagon.  William  Todd  (his  relationship 
is  not  specified)  was  required  to  pay  2os.  per  annum  toward  the  maintenance 
of  the  children,  who  appeared  in  the  accounts  as  ordinary  parish  children. 

A  certain  number  of  those  who  received  relief  may  have  also  been 
earning  some  money  by  spinning,  the  only  form  of  work  provided  by  the 
overseers  at  this  time. 

In  1658,  1,493  lb.  of  hemp  were  bought  at  %d.  a  lb.,and  the  poor  were 
paid  for  spinning  at  the  rate  of  \d.  a  Ib.  Some  of  the  yarn  was  then  sent  to 
weavers,  who  received  £3  4-f.  \d.  for  their  work,  and  finally  the  cloth  and 
the  rest  of  the  yarn  were  sold  to  various  people,  resulting  in  a  loss  on  the 
whole  transaction  for  the  year  of  £9  ijs.  zd.  The  next  year  the  spinning  of 
the  yarn  cost  the  same  amount,  \zd.  a  Ib.,  and  some  was  sold  at  cost  price, 
the  result  being  a  greater  loss.  The  overseers  finally  gave  up  providing  the 
work  for  the  poor  themselves,  and  contracts  were  entered  into  with  two  men, 
apparently  hemp-dressers,  who  employed  the  poor,  receiving  in  all  £8  IQJ. 
from  the  overseers.  The  transaction  still  brought  a  small  loss  to  the  parish, 
but  only  8s.  8</.,  so  that  the  contracting  system  must  have  been  found  far 
more  advantageous  than  the  direct  employment  of  paupers  by  the  overseers. 

The  custom  of  paying  house  rent  increased  very  considerably  towards 
the  end  of  the  century,  and  repairs  were  also  carried  out  at  the  ratepayers' 
expense.  The  overseers  rented  cottages  for  the  paupers  who  could 
not  live  with  their  relations.  The  same  system  existed  elsewhere,  for 
the  churchwardens  and  overseers  at  Ilmer  were  ordered  in  i68o199  to  place 
another  inhabitant  '  in  the  house  where  Emma  Bigge  dwelt,'  a  new  door  and 
chimney  being  added  to  the  house.  At  Hughenden  leave  was  obtained  from 
the  justices  to  build  a  cottage  to  provide  accommodation  for  the  poor,  and 
the  lord  of  the  manor  had  been  petitioned  for  a  vacant  place  on  the  waste 
ground  as  a  site. 

m  Quart.  Sess.  Rec. 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  scope  of  the  relief  given  was  gradually  growing  much  wider,  fore- 
shadowing the  practice  of  the  eighteenth  century.  At  Aylesbury  payments 
were  made  to  men  who  were  either  ill  themselves,  or  whose  families 
were  ill.  In  1671  there  are  several  such  entries,  including  payments  to 
Henry  Pratt,  the  bone-setter,  who  received  $s.  for  setting  a  shoulder  or  thigh. 
Medical  relief  seems  to  have  been  given  freely  to  the  families  of  able-bodied 
men,  and  indeed  the  above  charges  must  have  been  beyond  the  means  of  an 
ordinary  labourer  getting  at  most  is.  a  day,  but  such  assistance  was  also  given 
to  men  who  could  hardly  have  been  in  great  need,  such  as  the  miller  who  had 
3*.  to  take  his  child  to  the  bone-setter. 

Pest-houses  in  times  of  plague  were  also  provided  by  the  overseers,  and 
were  carefully  isolated  and  watched.  At  Aylesbury  the  greater  part  of  the 
expenses  connected  with  the  pest-house  were  the  wages  of  day  and  night 
watchmen,  while  the  inmates  seem  to  have  been  terribly  neglected.  Food 
was  provided,  but  the  overseers  were  forced  to  pay  compensation  for  the 
sheep-racks  and  gates  burnt  at  the  pest-house  to  provide  firewood.  They 
were  not  permanent  institutions,  but  were  set  up  whenever  the  necessity 
arose,  the  last  mention  of  one  at  Aylesbury  being  in  1781. 

The  theory  also  was  gaining  ground  that  if  a  man  could  not  find  work 
he  must  be  supported  by  the  parish,  in  great  contrast  to  the  views  advanced 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Stoke  Hundred100  in  1636—7,  that  when  the  paper-mills 
were  stopped  the  manufacturer  must  himself  provide  for  his  workmen,  since 
he  had  brought  them  to  the  mills.  In  1679  two  orders  were  made  at  the 
Easter  quarter  sessions  illustrating  this  change  :  at  Whitchurch  the  relief  to 
Thomas  Curtis  was  to  cease,  but  the  inhabitants  were  to  keep  him  in  work  ; 
at  Ivinghoe  there  was  a  similar  order  to  stop  an  allowance  of  6J.  a  month  to 
Richard  Fowler,  provided  that  the  parishioners  maintain  his  children  and 
find  him  work.  More  severe  orders  were  still  issued.  At  West  Wycombe  a 
man  had  been  the  recipient  of  2s.  6d.  a  week,  but  it  appeared  to  the  court  that 
he  was  '  a  man  of  very  able  body  to  work  for  his  own  livelyhood.' 

An  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  in  1691  in  consequence  of  the  growing 
laxity  of  the  overseers  in  giving  relief,  ordering  that  a  register  of  the  paupers801 
in  each  parish  should  be  kept,  with  the  amounts  they  each  received,  and 
should  be  produced  once  a  year  at  a  vestry  meeting.  No  one  else  might 
receive  parish  relief  except  by  the  authority  of  one  justice  of  the  peace  or  by 
an  order  of  the  Bench  at  quarter  sessions.  This  clause,  far  from  effecting 
the  economy  intended  in  the  statute,  was  the  main  cause  of  many  of  the  evils 
which  grew  up  in  the  eighteenth  century,  since  the  practice  arose  of  any 
magistrate  ordering  relief  to  an  applicant  without  consultation  with  the  parish 
officers.  The  result  was,  naturally,  a  great  deal  of  friction  between  the  two 
poor-law  authorities,  besides  an  increase  in  the  rates. 

The  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  justices  is  shown  clearly  in  the  absence 
of  orders  at  quarter  sessions  restraining  relief  given  by  the  overseers,  which 
had  hitherto  been  frequent.  Still,  in  the  parishes  themselves,  attempts  were 
made  to  keep  down  the  rates,  which  had  risen  steadily  at  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  At  Aylesbury  the  total  disbursements  in  the  first 
account  were  under  £156,  but  in  1702  they  had  risen  to  £326  7s-  IO^-  In 

*"  S.P.  Dom.  Chat.  I,  vol.  34.4,  No.  40. 

*"'  A  lilt  of  pensioners  for  relief  was  kept  at  Ajlesbury  as  early  as  1679  ;  Quart.  Seas.  Rec.  1679. 

79 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

that  year  an  attempt  to  economize  was  made  by  abandoning  the  system  of 
paying  rents  for  paupers'  cottages,  and  the  vestry  decided  that  the  almshouses, 
which  were  in  the  course  of  rebuilding,  should  have  lodging  chambers  built 
over  them,  with  chimneys  in  them,  '  for  receiving  such  poor  into  them  to 
dwell  in  as  may  discharge  the  said  parish  from  payments  of  any  rents  after 
the  Michaelmas  quarter  following.' 

In  1722  a  further  attempt  was  made  to  ensure  greater  economy  by  a 
statute  enacting  that  parishes  might  provide  workhouses  for  the  reception  of 
paupers,  and  that  no  one  who  refused  to  live  in  the  house  should  receive 
parochial  relief.  The  building  of  workhouses  followed  quickly  on  this  Act. 
At  Wing  the  repair  of  the  workhouse  becomes  a  frequent  charge  in  the 
accounts,  and  for  some  time  the  workhouse  test  seems  to  have  been  adopted 
there  as  elsewhere.  At  Aylesbury  it  is  possible  that  the  almshouses  had 
taken  the  place  of  such  a  workhouse  at  this  time,  for  the  latter  institution  is 
not  mentioned  till  1758,  when  it  was  resolved  at  a  vestry  meeting  '  that  under 
no  pretence  whatever  should  the  overseers  pay  or  cause  to  be  paid  any  sum 
or  sums  of  money  for  the  relief  of  persons  who  refuse  to  come  into  the  work- 
house, and  that  after  Michaelmas  no  rents  will  be  paid  or  allowed.'  How 
long  the  workhouse  with  living-rooms  had  been  in  existence  does  not  appear, 
but  the  resolution  shows  that  the  old  order  of  1702  forbidding  the  payment 
of  rents  had  become  obsolete. 

The  maintenance  of  the  poor  in  the  workhouse  was  carried  out  by 
contracts,  but  the  contractor  lost  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  decided  to 
pay  him  £95  over  and  above  his  contract  by  way  of  compensation.  The 
proceeding  seems  to  have  been  exceedingly  unbusiness-like  and  savours  a 
good  deal  of  undue  influence  exercised  by  the  contractor  in  the  vestry.  The 
next  year  the  overseers,  apparently  to  get  out  of  the  difficulty,  undertook 
the  management  of  the  workhouse  themselves. 

Provision  was  made  in  various  ways  for  the  children  in  the  workhouse  ; 
at  one  time  twelve  catechism  books  were  bought ;  at  another  payments  for 
schooling,  only  for  boys,  are  entered  at  the  rate  of  zd.  a  week  for  each  boy. 

The  inmates  of  the  workhouse  were  still  provided  with  work,  but 
sewing  and  lace-making  had  taken  the  place  of  spinning.  A  considerable 
number  of  silk  lace-makers  seem  to  have  been  regular  employees  at  the 
workhouse,  since  entries  are  made  of  payments  of  id.  each  to  lace-makers 
when  they  cut  off;  at  another  time  they  received  3^.  to  keep  '  Caterin.' 
The  master  or  governor  of  the  Aylesbury  workhouse  does  not  appear  under 
that  name,  but  Isaac  Wheeler,  who  in  1788  and  the  succeeding  years 
received  a  salary  '  to  look  after  the  workhouse,'  probably  occupied  some  such 
position.  The  question  of  the  settlement  of  vagrants  also  involved  a  great 
deal  of  expense.  Appeals  to  quarter  sessions  were  continual,  and  the  object 
of  each  parish  was  to  prevent  the  settlement  of  anyone  likely  to  become 
chargeable  on  the  poor  rate.  Since  the  Restoration  the  Settlement  Acts 
were  made  terribly  severe,  and  the  same  tendency  is  shown  in  the  orders  of 
quarter  sessions.  In  1680  any  persons  taking  a  tenement  of  small  value  in 
any  parish  in  the  county,  with  the  intent  to  become  inhabitants,  could  be 
removed  to  their  last  place  of  settlement,  by  the  court,  if  they  had  been 
warned  to  depart  by  the  churchwardens  and  overseers.  In  fact  if  there  was 
the  least  future  possibility  of  a  newcomer  becoming  chargeable  to  the  parish,. 

80 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

he  could  be  ordered  to  return  to  his  last  place  of  settlement.  A  few  years 
later  the  inhabitants  of  Princes  Risborough  appealed  against  a  blacksmith  of 
Missenden  attempting  to  settle  within  their  parish.  At  Aylesbury  £4  was 
paid  for  apprenticing  a  boy  named  Joseph  Rash  for  seven  years,  but  half  the 
sum  was  held  over  as  security  that  he  would  not  be  chargeable  to  the  parish 
for  the  next  year. 

Vagrants  and  beggars  were  a  source  of  continual  trouble,  but  these  were 
dealt  with  by  the  constables  and  not  the  overseers.  In  1679  the  poor  of 
Aylesbury  *°*  were  forbidden  to  beg ;  if  they  were  found  begging  the  con- 
stables were  ordered  to  take  them  to  the  house  of  correction,  and  they  were 
to  be  struck  off  the  list  of  recipients  of  parish  relief. 

At  Wendover  an  ale-house  keeper  lost  his  licence  for  allowing  rogues 
and  vagabonds  to  lie  in  his  barns  and  outhouses.  Scotch  pedlars  and  petty 
chapmen,  who  wandered  about  the  country  in  large  numbers,  were  a 
grievance,  and  orders  were  issued  that  they  were  to  be  publicly  whipped 
by  the  constables  or  tithing-men. 

In  1688  at  the  Easter  sessions  constables  were  ordered  to  put  the  laws 
against  vagrants  into  effect,  since  their  numbers  had  increased  and  they 
formed  a  danger  to  the  country-side,  threatening  women  left  alone  in  houses 
in  lonely  parts  when  their  husbands  and  servants  were  away  at  work. 
Besides  losses  by  theft,  people  were  also  in  great  fear  of  acts  of  incendiarism 
on  the  part  of  vagrants. 

Two  years  later  orders  were  given  to  the  petty  constables  as  to  the 
necessity  of  keeping  strict  watch  on  strangers,  and  dealing  with  vagrants 
according  to  the  statutes.  These  orders  showed  that  the  house  of  correction 
was  becoming  far  more  like  a  prison  than  had  been  the  case  formerly. 
Ordinary  vagrants  without  passes  were  of  course  to  be  whipped  and  sent  to 
their  places  of  settlement.  If  this  was  not  known,  they  were  to  be  dis- 
patched to  the  county  gaol  for  work  until  they  could  be  placed  in  service, 
but  '  incorrigible  rogues  and  dangerous  and  not  to  be  reformed '  were  to  be 
taken  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  admitted  to  the  house  of  correction. 
There  were  houses  of  correction  at  Aylesbury,  Wycombe,  and  Newport 
Pagnel,  and  a  fourth  was  provided  at  Buckingham  in  1719,  but  was 
abolished  in  less  than  twenty  years.  The  governors203  received  £30  a  vear 
paid  from  the  county  rate,  and  were  supervised  by  the  justices,  for  in  the 
Michaelmas  sessions  in  1684,  a  'grand  inquest  view'  was  ordered  to  inquire 
whether  the  governor  at  Wycombe  performed  his  duty.  This  consisted  of 
seeing  that  the  able-bodied  labourers  who  refused  to  place  themselves  in 
service  worked  in  an  orderly  manner  so  long  as  they  were  confined  in  the 
house  of  correction. 

The  removal  of  vagrants  involved  a  great  deal  of  expenditure,  which  fell 
partly  on  each  parish  and  partly  on  the  county.  The  travellers  who  received 
small  payments  at  Wing  throughout  the  seventeenth  century  must  often  have 
been  vagrants  who  were  passing  through  the  county  to  their  place  of  settle- 
ment. Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  justices  complain  of  the  extra- 
ordinary charge  for  passing  and  conveying  vagabonds  and  cripples.  To  the 
constable  of  Little  Brickhill  alone  £140  had  been  paid  in  1708,  and  the 

**  Quart.  Sess.  Rec. 

*"  The  post  of  governor  might  he  held  by  a  woman.     Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  Epiph.  1761. 

2  Si  II 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

applications  for  the  office  of  petty  constable  at  Bow  Brickhill  had  been  so 
numerous  as  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  the  bench  that  the  constables  had 
made  a  considerable  profit  over  this  part  of  their  duty.  It  was  therefore 
ordered  that  the  yearly  charge  should  be  reduced  to  a  certainty,  and  £80 
a  year  was  agreed  upon  as  a  suitable  remuneration,  to  be  paid  to  two  men 
recommended  by  the  minister,  overseers,  and  others  of  the  parish.  The 
system  of  contracting  for  the  carriage  of  vagrants  was  evidently  found  to  be 
satisfactory,  and  was  adopted  at  various  places  in  the  county. 

A  scale  of  allowances  to  constables  and  governors  of  the  houses  of  cor- 
rection was  also  drawn  up  to  regulate  the  treatment  of  vagrants  on  the  road. 
For  food  gd.  a  day,  or  yl.  for  each  meal,  was  allowed  ;  the  charges  for  the 
hire  of  carts  and  sufficient  horses  was  settled,  and  the  constable  or  guide 
conducting  the  vagrants  received  is.  a  day,  including  his  maintenance,  with 
3</.  per  mile  for  his  horse.  If  a  vagrant  died  on  the  road  i  QJ.  was  allowed 
for  his  burial,  and  the  charge  of  the  justices'  clerk  for  making  out  a  vagrant's 
passport  was  limited  to  is. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  reign  of  George  II  the  labourers  seem  to  have 
been  prosperous,  and  the  poor  relief  given  on  more  or  less  strict  lines, 
able-bodied  labourers  not  often  receiving  relief  unless  work  was  done. 
The  prosperity  of  the  labourer  was  but  the  reflection  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  farmer  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace  in  1713.  The  introduction  of  improved  methods,  encouraged 
by  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  brought  great  profits  to  the  farmers  and  in- 
creased the  rents  of  the  landlords,  in  spite  of  the  low  prices  during  the 
peace.  The  inclosure  of  common  fields  was  urgently  recommended  by  the 
Board,  since  improvements  were  impossible  under  the  old  system  of  common 
cultivation.  Inclosure  was  urged  on  the  different  parishes,  for  the  purpose 
of  arable  farming,  and  not  for  the  conversion  of  land  to  pasture.  In  Bucking- 
hamshire it  had  been  recognized  that  much  of  the  land  was  not  suitable  for 
sheep-farming,  being  too  heavy  and  wet,  so  that  the  inclosures  at  this  time  were 
not  accompanied  by  evictions.  An  Act  of  Parliament  was  in  many  cases  obtained 
for  the  inclosure  of  each  parish,  and  the  tenants  of  strips  in  the  common  fields 
were  awarded  separate  fields  and  meadows,  to  be  cultivated  in  severally  and 
inclosed  with  hedges.  The  first  Act  was  obtained  to  inclose  the  common 
fields  at  Ashendon  in  1739,  and  two  more  were  passed  in  1743  and  1745  for 
Wotton  Underwood  and  Shipton  in  Winslow  respectively.  Between  1760 
and  1770  there  were  eight  inclosures,  and  between  1770  and  1780  sixteen. 
In  the  following  decade  the  numbers  dropped  to  five,  but  there  were  a  series 
of  bad  harvests  to  account  for  the  decrease.  The  number  rose  between  1770 
and  1780  to  twelve,  and  between  1800  and  1810  to  fifteen,  and  inclosures 
were  made  continuously  during  the  next  fifty  years  ;  other  instances  occur 
later,  but  the  rate  of  inclosures  by  Act  lessened,  and  many  fields  must  have 
been  inclosed  under  an  agreement  between  the  tenants. 

Two  reports  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture,804  dated  1794  and  1813,  fully 
describe  the  methods  of  farming  and  the  terms  of  tenancy  which  prevailed 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  In  the  earlier  report,  the  area  of  the  county 
was  reckoned  at  518,400  statute  acres,  and  of  these  91,000  odd  lay  in 

104  W.  James  and  J.  Malcolm,  Gen.  View  of  Agru.  of  Bucks,  (i  794),  and  Rev.  St.  John  Priest,  Gen.  View 
ofA&ic.  of  Bucks.  (1813). 

82 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

common  fields,  and  6,000  odd  were  waste  lands,  so  that  further  inclosures 
were  recommended. 

Uninclosed  lands  formed  but  one  of  the  obstacles  to  improvements, 
however,  the  terms  of  tenancy  being  a  further  difficulty.  Some  farmers  only 
held  their  lands  by  an  agreement  from  year  to  year,  and  had  therefore  no 
security  for  their  occupation,  and  were  not  ready  to  sink  their  capital  in  their 
land.  Others  had  leases,  but  these  were  often  for  a  short  term  of  years,  with 
bad  covenants  with  regard  to  the  system  of  cropping.  This  was  specially 
the  case  with  the  common  fields,  in  which  the  old  mediaeval  rotation  of  two 
crops  and  a  fallow  was  still  the  custom ;  but  near  Hardwick  the  leases  allowed 
three  crops  and  a  fallow,  though  no  clover.  In  inclosed  parishes  a  better 
system  as  a  rule  prevailed  and  turnips  were  introduced,  especially  in  the 
Chiltern  districts,  where  the  farming  was  good.  Leases  often  contained 
penalties  for  certain  offences,  such  as  breaking  up  pasture  and  cutting  down 
timber.  In  consequence  a  great  deal  of  damage  was  done  at  the  end  of  a 
lease,  the  profit  to  the  tenant  being  much  above  the  penalty  to  be  enforced. 
The  land  in  the  open  fields  was  held  in  strips  by  the  yardland,  which  varied 
in  size  from  28  to  40  acres  in  different  parts  of  the  county,  and  the  tenants 
had  various  pasture  rights  in  the  meadows  and  commons.  Inclosure  often 
did  away  with  these  rights,  and  was  especially  a  loss  to  the  poorer  inhabitants, 
who  could  no  longer  keep  a  cow  on  the  common.  The  baulks,  or  divisions 
between  the  strips,  which  had  been  used  generally  for  pasture,  were  now 
ploughed  up  and  the  meadows  were  no  longer  thrown  open  after  hay  harvest, 
hence  in  most  places  the  number  of  cattle  and  sheep  decreased  after  inclosure. 
The  Board  of  Agriculture  also  considered  that  all  commons  and  wastes  should 
be  cultivated  as  arable  land,  but  the  only  commons  inclosed  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament about  this  time  were  Hyde  Heath  at  Chesham  and  the  Pasture  and 
Doggett's  Furze  at  Olney. 

In  the  common  fields  ploughing  in  straight  furrows  had  rarely  been 
introduced,  but  the  old  method  of  starting  in  the  centre  and  ploughing  in  a 
serpentine  form  was  still  followed,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  crops.  The 
improvements  effected  by  inclosures  are  clearly  shown  in  the  difference  of  the 
rents  of  the  two  kinds  of  land.  In  the  parishes  of  Aston  Clinton,  Weston 
Turville,  and  Buckland,  where  the  soil  was  good,  the  rents  of  inclosures  were 
double  the  rents  in  the  open  fields,  and  elsewhere  they  were  very  considerably 
higher. 

By  1813  dairy-farming  in  the  vale,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  district  to 
the  north,  had  followed  on  the  inclosure  of  land,  and  very  high  rents  were 
obtained  for  the  pastures.  The  average  rent,  tithes  included,  was  4U.,  but 
as  much  as  £3  an  acre  was  given  in  some  places.  In  the  south  the  rents  of 
the  arable  land  were  more  moderate,  averaging  jTi  o/.  6d.  an  acre,  though  at 
Fawley  it  was  let  at  from  IQJ.  to  i8j.,  and  at  Horton  at  45^.  an  acre.  Sheep- 
farming  was  generally  on  the  decrease,  though  in  some  instances  the  breed  of 
sheep  had  been  considerably  improved. 

In  the  Vale  the  inclosures  were  on  a  small  scale,  generally  from  10  to 
20  acres,  in  spite  of  their  being  mainly  on  dairy  farms  ;  still  some  fields 
contained  30  acres  and  upwards.  In  the  south  the  inclosures  on  the  arable 
farms  were  on  a  larger  scale. 

At  this  time  Buckinghamshire  had  ceased  to  be  purely  an  agricultural 

83 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

district,  since  a  large  part  of  the  population  were  engaged  in  lace-making  and 
straw-plaiting,  according  to  the  census  of  1801.  The  lace  trade  had  been 
.increasing  throughout  the  eighteenth  century,  and  silk  lace,  as  well  as  the 
older  thread  lace,  was  made  in  larger  quantities.  In  1794  the  chief  manu- 
factures were  lace  and  paper,  but  the  number  of  persons  employed  in  them 
was  not  sufficient  to  affect  the  supply  of  agricultural  labour,  though  the  best 
wages  were  higher  than  those  of  the  ordinary  labourer.  In  the  later  report 
to  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  however,  lace-making  and  straw-plaiting  occu- 
pied a  great  number  of  women,  and  the  farmers  could  get  little  work  done 
for  them  by  women.  Lace  was  chiefly  made  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
county,  especially  in  the  district  round  Newport  Pagnel  and  Olney.  At 
Hanslope,205  in  1802,  800  persons  were  employed  in  the  trade,  the  population 
being  returned  in  the  census  of  the  previous  year  as  1,289.  Children  were 
sent  to  lace  schools  at  the  age  of  five  or  six,  and  both  boys  and  girls  were 
able  to  support  themselves  at  twelve  years  old.  Men  also  made  lace  when 
agricultural  employment  was  scarce,  and  they  could  earn  as  good  wages  as  if 
they  were  doing  their  ordinary  work. 

Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  the  ordinary  labourer  seems  to  have 
had  is.  a  day,  but  in  the  legal  wages  practically  no  change  took  place  ;  the 
only  exception  was  in  the  case  of  servants  hired  by  the  year.  In  the  scale  of 
wages  of  ij6$*M  all  classes  of  servants  were  allowed  IQJ.  above  the  previous 
rate. 

£   '.    d.  £    ,.    d. 

Chief  bailiffs  had  6  10  o  in  the  Chilterns  and  6     o     0  in  the  Vale. 

Ordinary  servants  4  10  O     „                   „            400,,          „ 

Boys  from  16  to  20  3  o  O     „                  „           2    10     o     „          ,, 

Boys  from  12  to  16  2  O  O     „                  „           1134     „          „ 

This  did  not  represent  the  real  rise,  for  in  1794  207  the  head  man  was  receiv- 
ing on  an  average  8  guineas  in  the  interior  of  the  county  and  10  guineas  in 
the  south,  while  a  boy  had  3  guineas  and  4  guineas  respectively  in  the  two 
districts. 

This  rise  was  not  neutralized  by  a  greater  rise  in  prices.  In  1 670  wheat 
was  sold  at  Aylesbury  for  6s.ioa  a  bushel,  and  barley  for  3^.  and  2s.  jd.  a 
bushel,  but  in  1702  barley  was  at  is.  yd.,  and  the  average  value  of  wheat 
between  1721  to  1784  decreased  from  ^s.  %d.  to  4*.  i*/.209  At  the  close  of 
the  century  a  series  of  bad  harvests  brought  to  an  end  the  period  of  prosperity 
and  caused  much  distress  among  the  labourers,  although  the  farmers  and  land- 
lords made  great  profits  on  the  high  prices  obtainable  for  all  kinds  of  corn. 

Besides  the  bad  harvests,  the  French  war  and  the  consequent  heavy 
taxation  pressed  most  heavily  on  the  labourers,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
government  to  afford  relief  during  the  dearth.  The  two  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment signed  an  agreement  to  reduce  the  consumption  of  corn  by  one-third 
in  their  houses,  and  similar  action  was  taken  by  certain  privy  councillors, 
•who  sent  a  copy  of  their  resolution  to  the  lords-lieutenant  calling  upon  the 
magistrates  and  others  in  the  counties  to  follow  their  example.  In  the 
summer  of  1795  the  Buckinghamshire  justices210  undertook  only  to  use 

"'  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iv,  164.  *oe  Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  East.  1765. 

07  James  and  Malcolm,  Gen.  View  of  Agrlc.  of  Bucks.  (1794).  im  Overseers'  Accts.  Aylesbury. 

m  St.  John  Priest,  Gen.  View  of  Agric.  of  Bucks.  (1813).  110  Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  Mids.  1795. 

84    ' 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

'  Standard  wheaten  bread  '  as  defined  in  the  Act  of  1 3  Geo.  Ill,  in  which  the 
flour  used  was  to  include  the  whole  produce  of  the  grain,  excepting  the  bran 
and  hull.  They  ordered  the  constables  of  the  different  parishes  to  present 
both  the  bakers  who  made  or  sold  any  finer  bread  and  those  who  had  bought 
it;  further,  the  justices  undertook  to  reduce  the  use  of  flour  in  other  food  but 
bread  in  their  households,  and  the  quantity  of  oats  and  barley  consumed  by 
their  horses,  begging  all  other  families  in  the  county  to  do  the  same. 

At  the  Michaelmas  sessions"1  of  the  same  year,  after  another  deficient 
harvest,  the  magistrates  described  the  prices  as  exorbitant,  and  issued  orders 
respecting  forestallers  of  corn.  Any  person,  who  bought  corn,  which  was 
coming  to  any  market  or  fair  to  be  sold  in  the  same  fair  ;  who  made  any 
bargain  for  buying  corn  before  it  came  to  market ;  who  did  or  said  anything 
to  enhance  the  price,  or  persuaded  anyone  to  withhold  corn  from  the  markets; 
who  kept  back  their  own  corn — was  to  be  proceeded  against  with  '  the  utmost 
rigour  of  the  law.'  Corn  growing  in  the  fields  might  not  be  bought  or 
obtained  in  any  manner  with  the  intention  of  selling  (excepting  it  was 
obtained  by  demise,  or  grant,  or  lease  of  land,  or  tithes).  All  such  offenders 
were  to  be  presented  by  the  petty  constables.  The  prisoners  in  gaol  had 
potatoes  substituted  for  part  of  their  allowance  of  bread  ;  churchwardens  and 
overseers  and  governors  of  hospitals  and  workhouses  were  recommended  to 
provide  for  the  poor  bread  made  of  a  mixture  of  wheat  and  barley,  flour  or 
potatoes,  and  to  distribute  such  bread,  instead  of  giving  the  whole  of  their 
allowances  in  money. 

Similar  orders  were  made  throughout  the  county,  but  in  i8oos12  the 
justices  admitted  that  they  had  failed  in  their  efforts,  in  so  far  as  they  had 
attempted  to  restrain  the  use  of  finer  bread  than  the  Standard  Wheaten  Loaf, 
since  the  adjoining  counties  had  made  no  such  restrictions,  and  therefore  finer 
bread  was  freely  imported  into  the  county. 

The  rate  of  wages  during  this  shortage  is  so  closely  connected  with  the 
working  of  the  poor  laws,  that  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  the  action  of  the 
justices  to  relieve  the  distress  of  the  population  without  first  considering  the 
operation  of  the  Poor  Law  at  this  time. 

In  the  later  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  change  took  place  in  the 
principles  which  ruled  the  administration  of  poor  relief,  a  change  based  on  a 
philanthropic  desire  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor  during  a  period 
of  great  scarcity  and  distress.  In  1782  Gilbert's  Act,  though  mainly  dealing 
with  the  formation  of  voluntary  unions  of  parishes  with  one  workhouse  in 
the  union  under  the  charge  of  paid  guardians,  also  ordered  that  only  the 
impotent  should  be  admitted  to  the  workhouse  and  the  able-bodied  were  to 
have  work  provided  for  them  near  their  homes.  In  1796  a  further  step  was 
taken  ;  the  test  of  1722  was  abolished  and  out-door  relief  was  legalized. 
Legislation  in  this  case  followed  the  practice  of  the  overseers,  since  at 
Aylesbury  the  first  entry  of  out-relief  being  given  to  an  able-bodied  man 
appears  in  1784,  when  is.  was  given  to  William  Stevens  'being  out  of  work,' 
and  in  the  winter  such  entries  became  very  frequent.  The  weekly  allowance 
to  the  poor  'out  of  the  house'  was  a  regular  entry;  and  roundsmen,  or 
labourers  who  were  sent  to  work  with  various  employers,  but  received 
reduced  wages  from  the  overseers,  were  now  entered  for  the  first  time.  The 

'"  Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  Mich.  1795.  '"  Ibid.  1800. 

85 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

roundsmen  increased  in  number  with  great  rapidity,  and  the  evil  of  the  system 
was  recognized  by  the  justices  in  1795,  but  their  remedy  was  even  worse 
than  the  system  itself.  '  The  court,'  at  the  Epiphany  sessions — 

took  into  consideration  the  having  appeared  to  the  Magistrates  now  assembled  that  the 
mode  adopted  in  many  parishes  of  the  County  of  employing  all  poor  labourers  indiscrimi- 
nately as  Roundsmen  at  an  under  price  hath  been  attended  with  great  inconvenience  and 
abuse  and  requires  a  speedy  and  effectual  remedy.  And  it  appearing  to  this  court  that  the 
following  are  at  this  time  absolutely  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  industrious  labourer 
and  his  family  and  that  where  it  happens  the  labourer  and  his  wife  and  such  of  his  children 
as  may  be  able,  duly  and  honestly  perform  several  labours  on  which  they  may  be  employed 
and  yet  do  not  earn  the  weekly  sum  after  mentioned,  the  same  ought  to  be  made  up  to 
them  by  the  parish  officers  : 

For  a  single  man  according  to  his  labour. 
For  a  man  and  wife  not  less  than  6s. 

„    „     „     „      „     with  one  or  two  small  children  Js. 
For  every  additional  child  under  the  age  of  10  years  is. 

The  effect  of  this  order  was  naturally  the  lowering  of  wages  and  a  great 
increase  in  the  poor  rates,  for  the  farmers  agreed  in  many  places  to  give  less 
than  the  minimum  fixed  by  the  justices  and  the  residue  fell  on  the  rates. 

In  1785  the  whole  expenditure  for  the  year  at  Aylesbury  was 
jTi,o6o  los.  o\d.,  but  in  1805  it  had  risen  to  be  £3,022  6s.  yd.  In  1789 
five  collections  had  been  made  at  6d.  in  the  £,  but  in  1801  there  were 
eleven  collections  at  the  increased  rate  of  is.  The  Buckinghamshire  justices 
had  perceived  at  the  end  of  five  years  the  evils  to  which  this  system  of 
subsidizing  labour  led — lowering  wages  and  pressing  most  unfairly  on  non- 
employers  of  labour,  tradesmen  and  farmers  cultivating  their  land  themselves 
— and  the  report  at  the  Michaelmas  sessions  of  1 800  showed  them  to  have 
been  considerably  in  advance  of  their  contemporaries  in  the  theory  of  poor 
relief.  In  an  order  '  respecting  servants'  wages '  they  stated  that  great 
inconvenience  had  been  caused  by  the  neglect  in  carrying  out  the  Act  of 
1 60 1,  a  neglect  partly  due  to  imperfections  in  the  statute  : — 

In  many  instances  the  wages  of  the  industrious  labourers  in  husbandry  has  been  set  by 
agreement  of  the  land  occupants  at  a  rate  greatly  below  the  real  value  of  labour,  as  com- 
pared with  the  usual  price  of  corn  or  Common  wages  of  Labourers  in  constant  employ, 
within  the  same  parish  and  to  which  is  then  added  under  the  name  of  relief  such  allowance 
from  the  parish  rates  as  the  Overseers  of  themselves  may  administer  or  the  Magistrates 
direct. 

That  those  labourers  usually  known  as  roundsmen  (being  of  ability  for  fair  and  ordinary 
earning  from  labour)  are  appointed  on  each  occupant  according  to  the  supposed  value  of  his 
occupancy  at  reduced  wages.  It  appearing  at  this  moment  they  are  paid  in  most  parts  of 
the  County  only  6s.  for  the  week  and  in  some  parishes  as  low  as  4*.  per  week,  being  a  sum 
wholly  inadequate  for  their  labour. 

The  order  further  said  that  the  remainder  of  the  sum  necessary  for  the 
labourers'  subsistence  was  paid  from  the  rates,  and  was  often  a  charge  on 
those  who  obtained  no  benefit  from  the  labour.  The  bad  effects  which  this 
system  produced  on  the  morals,  general  habits,  and  industry  of  the  labourer 
was  commented  on,  and  a  change  of  practice  was  advocated  which  would 
throw  the  price  of  labour  where  it  ought  ultimately  to  fall.  The  only 
practical  remedies  suggested,  however,  were  an  increased  facility  for  justices 
in  dealing  with  the  rate  of  wages,  the  enforcement  of  the  Acts  relating  to 
the  wages  of  labourers,  and  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  four  men 
to  act  with  the  magistrates  of  each  hundred  where  such  practices  were  the 

86 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

rule,  and  to  direct  the  clerk  of  the  peace  to  indict  anyone  found  guilty  of 
such  a  misdemeanour.  They  added  in  explanation  of  the  second  recommen- 
dation that  the  Acts  were  to  be  carried  into  effect  by  the  magistrates  so  as  to 
force  the  employer  to  pay  an  adequate  price  for  his  labour — a  curious  state- 
ment, when  the  original  object  of  the  labour  statutes  is  considered. 

The  court  also  stated  with  great  emphasis  that  the  appropriation  of 
money  raised  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  to  able-bodied  labourers  was  a  gross 
misapplication,  and  that  the  accounts  of  overseers  guilty  of  such  misapplica- 
tion ought  not  to  be  allowed.  Three  parishes  are  mentioned  as  having 
enforced  the  proper  payment  of  their  labourers — Whitchurch,  Aston  Clinton, 
and  Weston  Turville.  The  following  year  the  justices  realized  that  the  scale 
of  wages,  last  fixed  in  1765,  was  far  below  the  rates  that  ought  to  be  paid  for 
labour,  and  therefore  a  new  rate  was  to  be  drawn  up.  The  new  scale  was 
published  at  the  next  Easter  sessions,  and  in  it  the  wages  for  all  kinds  of 
labour  were  practically  doubled,  the  lowest  payment  of  a  man  per  day  being 
is.  6d.  The  rates  for  carriage  were  also  increased,  particularly  in  the  case  of 
long  distances. 

The  protest  seems  to  have  had  little  or  no  effect.  At  Aylesbury  there  is  still 
the  Parish  Labour  Register  from  1804-13,  giving  full  details  of  the  amounts 
paid  weekly  to  different  labourers,  still  much  below  the  full  rate  of  wages. 

The  effect  on  the  labourers  themselves  was  all  that  the  report  had  said. 
As  early  as  1795  at  Winslow  they  were  described  as  having  become  'very 
lazy  and  imperious.'  There  was  also  difficulty  in  obtaining  labour,  since 
men  found  it  paid  them  better  to  do  but  little  work  and  receive  a  large 
amount  of  relief.818 

In  1826  a  large  land-holder  at  Aylesbury  was  summoned  before  the 
magistrates  for  having  refused  to  pay  his  poor  rate.  His  defence  was  that  in 
consequence  of  the  relief  given  to  able-bodied  men  he  could  get  no  one  to 
work  for  him.  He  had  found  300  people  waiting  at  his  farm  to  lease  his 
corn,  but  even  though  he  could  not  get  in  his  crops  for  want  of  men,  no  one 
of  the  300  would  accept  employment,  since  they  could  do  better  with  the 
overseers. 

The  highest  figure  at  Aylesbury  in  the  expenditure  was  reached  in 
1 8 1 6,  but  the  succeeding  years  showed  a  considerable  decline,  probably  owing 
to  the  appointment  of  a  paid  assistant  overseer.  This  reform  was  due  to  the 
recommendations  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  whose  inquiry 
revealed  the  worst  features  of  the  system.  Few  of  their  suggestions  were 
carried  out,  except  the  appointment  of  assistant  overseers.  At  Aylesbury  he 
received  a  yearly  salary  of  £52,  an(i  was  able  to  devote  the  whole  of  his  time 
to  the  control  of  poor  relief,  with  the  result  that  the  expenses  were  reduced, 
till  in  1826  the  annual  expenditure  was  less,  by  more  than  £2,000,  than  it  was 
in  1 8 17.  In  other  parishes,  however,  no  such  reduction  took  place,  an  extreme 
case  being  found  at  Cholesbury,  where  the  poor  rates  had  been  £10  I  is.  in 
1 80 1,  but  in  1832  had  risen  to  £367.  No  further  increase  was  then 
possible,  since  the  poor  rate  had  eaten  up  the  value  of  the  land,  and  farms 
were  standing  empty. 

"  The  scarcity  in  women's  labour  was  due  to  their  employment  in  the  lace  and  straw-plaiting  manufac- 
tures. In  the  former  they  could  make  from  yd.  to  I/.  \d.  a  day,  and  in  the  latter  jo/,  a  week  in  some  cases. 
St.  John  Priest,  op.  cit. 

87 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

The  powers  of  the  justices  to  grant  relief  were  somewhat  curtailed,  but 
no  adequate  reform  was  effected  until  1834,  when  the  new  Poor  Law  was 
passed,  founded  on  the  report  of  the  Royal  Commission  appointed  to  investi- 
gate the  operation  of  the  poor  laws.  In  1830  and  1831  there  were  riots  in 
various  agricultural  districts,  resulting  in  the  appointment  of  this  commission, 
and  the  condition  of  the  labourers  is  fully  shown  in  the  answers  to  inquiries 
made  in  various  parishes.  The  riots  were  not  serious  in  the  greater  part  of 
Buckinghamshire,  but  the  cause  was  said  very  generally  to  be  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  poor  laws.  The  rector  of  Sherington  2U  described  how  their 
action  created  a  hostile  spirit  between  labourers  and  employers,  and  destroyed 
all  feelings  of  reciprocal  dependence  and  goodwill  between  the  richer  and 
poorer  classes.  The  report  from  Amersham  is  interesting  in  this  connexion  : 
there  had  been  no  disposition  to  riot  at  all,  owing  to  the  wants  of  the  poor 
having  been  supplied  by  charitable  people.  Though  this  may  not  have  been 
economically  sound,  the  distribution  of  this  private  relief  had  resulted  in  the 
higher  and  trading  classes  having  much  greater  intercourse  with  the  poor 
generally.  In  parts  where  this  intercourse  had  not  been  achieved  the  labourers 
claimed  exemption  from  all  consequences  of  their  misconduct  and  imprudence, 
knowing  of  no  limit  to  their  legal  exactions  upon  the  farmer.  They  con- 
sidered the  stacks  of  corn  as  their  own  property  and  wages  or  allowances  as 
their  right,  gaining  their  demands  by  terrifying  the  farmers  and  burning 
stacks.  Even  if  an  increase  in  wages  was  gained  by  these  means  the  allow- 
ance system  continued,  and  no  real  improvement  took  place  in  the  relations 
between  farmers  and  labourers.  Lack  of  employment  even  increased,  owing 
to  the  great  reluctance  to  invest  capital  in  any  form  of  agriculture. 

The  risings  took  place  almost  exclusively  in  counties  where  the  rates 
were  highest  and  the  tendencies  of  the  poor  law  most  fatally  developed,  and 
within  the  county  itself  the  disturbances  were  most  severe  where  the  adminis- 
tration was  the  most  imprudent.  Everywhere  the  parish  had  stepped  in 
between  the  farmer  and  labourer  as  a  middleman  of  the  worst  kind.  In 
most  places  the  farmers  had  no  interest  in  the  labourers  supplied  to  them 
without  consideration  of  the  needs  of  their  land,  so  that  sympathy  between 
the  two  classes  was  killed. 

The  methods  of  giving  out-relief  were  various  :  it  was  occasionally 
given  in  kind,  more  often  in  money  without  labour,  but  the  three  most 
ordinary  methods  were  the  roundsman  system,  parish  employment,  and  the 
labour-rate  system.  The  roundsman  system  has  already  been  described  at 
Aylesbury,  but  in  the  early  days  of  out-relief  it  cannot  have  been  on  quite 
the  same  lines.  The  commissioners  described  it  as  a  system  of  paying 
occupiers  of  property  to  employ  applicants  for  relief,  at  a  rate  of  wages  fixed 
by  the  parish,  not  dependent  on  services  but  on  the  wants  of  the  applicants, 
the  employer  being  repaid  out  of  the  poor  rates  all  he  advanced  in  wages 
beyond  a  certain  sum.  Parish  employment  was  work  provided  by  the  over- 
seers, generally  on  the  roads  or  in  stone-pits,  where  labourers  were  sent  to 
work  in  large  gangs  with  little  or  no  superintendence. 

The  labour-rate  system  consisted  of  an  agreement  amongst  rate-payers, 
that  each  of  them  should  employ  and  pay  out  of  his  own  money  a  certain 
number  of  labourers,  who  had  a  claim  of  settlement,  according  to  some 

814  Poor  Latv  Com.  Rep. 
88 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

calculation  of  property.  Such  an  agreement  was  made  at  Aylesbury m  in 
1831,  when  it  was  definitely  stated  that  if  a  farmer  employed  any  labourer 
in  excess  of  those  due  on  his  farm,  he  should  only  pay  half  the  usual  wages 
and  send  him  to  the  overseers  for  the  remainder  of  the  wages  due. 

The  effect  of  this  system  was  not  only  to  depress  the  rate  of  wages,  but 
to  increase  the  rates  to  such  an  extent  that  farming  became  unprofitable.  At 
Adstock  agricultural  profits  were  completely  consumed  by  the  rates  ;  near 
Aylesbury  forty-two  farms  were  untenanted,  and  at  Thornborough  600 
acres  were  vacant  in  the  hands  of  the  landlord,  whose  other  tenants  had 
mostly  given  notice  to  quit. 

All  such  assessments  of  labourers  on  different  farmers  were  made  at 
vestry  meetings  in  the  parishes,  and  no  arrangement  could  be  found  that  did 
not  press  very  unfairly  on  some  employers.  If  the  assessment  was  made  by 
the  rateable  value  of  a  man's  property,  tradesmen,  &c.,  had  labourers  sent 
them  for  whom  they  had  no  employment  ;  or  if  it  was  made  by  the  number 
of  acres  in  a  farm,  a  large  pasture  farm,  where  little  labour  was  needed,  had 
more  men  assessed  to  it  than  an  arable  farm,  where  double  the  number  could 
be  employed. 

On  the  labourers  the  poor  law  had  an  even  more  deplorable  effect. 
It  was  almost  impossible  for  anyone  not  getting  relief  to  obtain  work,  since 
farmers  could  not  afford  to  employ  those  for  whom  they  were  not  bound  by 
law  to  provide.*18  At  West  Wycombe  it  was  said  that  the  notion  of  wages 
as  a  contract  beneficial  to  both  parties  seemed  to  be  entirely  obliterated. 

The  system  of  paying  part  of  the  wages  for  surplus  labourers  or  for 
roundsmen  does  not  seem  to  have  been  universal  in  the  county.  It  was  the 
prevailing  practice  in  Adstock  and  the  neighbouring  parishes,  Thornton  and 
Steeple  Claydon,  in  the  hundred  of  Buckingham ;  and  a  general  report 
made  for  Ashendon  Hundred  stated  that  it  had  spread  extensively  in  that 
part  of  the  county."7 

In  various  parishes  in  Aylesbury  and  Newport  Hundreds  also  it  was  the 
custom  to  make  up  the  wages  out  of  the  rates,  but  in  the  Chilterns  they 
were  apparently  little  used  for  this  purpose,  no  case  occurring  among  the  ten 
parishes  making  returns. 

An  allowance  from  the  parish  made  according  to  the  number  of  children 
in  a  labourer's  family  was  not  considered  as  paying  part  of  his  wages,  and 
was  a  very  common  custom.  In  the  case  of  labourers  working  for  individual 
employers  this  allowance  did  not,  as  a  rule,  begin  unless  there  were  four  or 
five  small  children,  but  at  Adstock  a  labourer  with  only  two  could  claim  an 
allowance. 

In  fixing  the  rate  of  all  wages,  whether  given  by  overseers  or  individual 
employers,  the  size  of  the  labourer's  family  formed  the  basis  of  calculation. 
In  the  southern  part  of  the  county  the  scale  fixed  by  the  magistrates  at 
Aylesbury  was  very  generally  adopted,  namely,  6s.  for  a  man  and  his  wife, 
and  is.  more  for  each  child,  but  at  West  Wycombe  the  scale  began  at  5*. 
At  Cholesbury  is.  each  was  not  given  for  more  than  two  children,  and, 

"•  Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Jjlaburj. 

"*  Sir  H.  Verne7  mentioned  the  case  of  a  labourer  who,  being  an  old  soldier  with  a  pension,  could 
obtain  no  work  at  all  from  the  surrounding  farmers. 
117  It  was  not  the  case  at  Oving. 

2  89  12 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

apparently,  no  increase  was  made  beyond  four,  a  man  with  one  child 
receiving  js.,  with  two  children  BJ.,  but  with  four  gs.  bd. 

In  other  parts  of  the  county,  particularly  in  the  Buckingham  and 
Newport  districts,  the  scale  was  fixed  according  to  the  value  of  the  half-peck 
loaf,  three  a  week  being  allowed  at  Adstock  for  a  man  and  his  wife,  and  one 
for  each  child,  but  elsewhere  the  allowance  was  sometimes  less. 

At  Upton-cum-Chalvey  the  scale  of  wages  was  not  only  regulated  by 
the  size  of  the  family,  since  '  capacity,  constitution,  and  age  '  were  taken  into 
consideration,  and  at  several  other  places  no  fixed  scale  was  adhered  to,  but 
they  can  only  be  regarded  as  exceptions  to  the  general  rule.  Leckhampstead 
had  developed  a  system  peculiar  to  itself;  no  allowance  per  child  was  ever 
given,  but  all  children  that  the  labourers  were  unable  to  maintain  were  taken 
and  kept  in  the  workhouse.  This  established  a  workhouse  test  of  the 
worst  possible  character,  falling  on  the  children  and  not  on  the  labourer ;  but 
the  one  saving  feature  in  the  system  was  the  high  wages  fixed  for  a  labourer 
with  a  wife  and  three  children.  He  received  14^.  6d.  a  week,  or  4^.  6d.  above 
the  allowance  at  Aylesbury.  Frequently  four  children  were  maintained  on 
the  same  wages,  rather  than  let  them  go  to  the  workhouse,  so  that  possibly 
the  system  in  the  particular  circumstances  worked  well. 

Such  a  method  of  calculating  the  amount  of  wages  led  to  a  number  of 
improvident  marriages,  and  a  consequent  increase  in  the  population.  Still 
more  was  this  the  case  when  unmarried  men  received  less  than  the  married, 
apart  from  the  allowance  for  each  child. 

In  the  Chilterns  there  was,  as  a  rule,  no  difference  made,  a  good 
labourer,  married  or  unmarried,  receiving  the  same  treatment,  and  at 
Burnham  the  comment  was  that  such  a  distinction  would  have  been  an 
encouragement  to  improvident  marriages  ;  wages  were  the  reward  for  labour, 
and  should  properly  be  proportionate  to  the  skill  and  exertions  of  the 
labourer  and  not  to  the  extent  of  his  family.218  At  West  Wycombe, 
however,  an  unmarried  man  received  4-r.  if  he  was  over  twenty  years  old, 
and  3-f.  if  under  twenty,  but  a  married  man  had  5-r.s19  Elsewhere  there  was 
a  considerable  difference,  as  a  rule  the  unmarried  men  earned  only  from 
4-r.  to  6s.  a  week,  except  in  harvest-time,  but  a  married  man  made  8s.  to  IQJ. 
At  Sherington  there  was  a  case  of  a  married  labourer  having  £i  31.  6d. 
ordered  for  his  weekly  wages  by  a  magistrate,  but  the  size  of  his  family  was 
not  given. 

There  was  another  difference  in  the  employment  of  unmarried  men  since 
they  were  often  only  employed  by  the  parish.  In  the  neighbourhood  of 
Woolstone  it  was  said  that  they  were  all  roundsmen,  paid  by  the  parish  at  the 
lowest  rate,  and  in  many  instances  they  were  driven  out  to  seek  employment 
for  themselves,  so  that  boys  of  seventeen,  eighteen,  and  nineteen  were 
induced  to  marry  to  establish  a  claim  on  the  parish  for  support  and  main- 
tenance. 

A  further  result  of  the  allowance  system  was  the  disappearance  of  piece- 
work. In  Desborough  Hundred  it  was  said  not  to  answer  since  there  were  too 
many  men  to  be  employed,  and  neither  farmers  nor  overseers  could  afford  to 

18  At  Upton-cum-Chalvey  there  was  no  difference  for  the  best  labourers,  but  '  feeling  masters '  allowed 
married  men  to  do  more  of  the  hardest  work  by  the  piece,  and  therefore  they  had  more  money. 
819  These  wages  were  paid  by  both  overseers  and  farmers. 

90 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

let  an  industrious  labourer  work  his  hardest  at  piece-work.      He  would  do 
more  than  they  could  afford."0 

Again,  farmers  did  all  they  could  to  prevent  a  settlement  being  established 
by  their  labourers  in  the  parish,  and  so  the  old  custom  of  hiring  by  the  year 
and  boarding  in  had  disappeared  in  many  parts  of  the  county.  With  regard 
to  the  industry  and  skill  of  the  labourers,  the  reports  from  the  majority  of 
parishes  complained  of  a  great  falling  off,  but  the  reasons  given  are  not  all 
identical.  In  the  Chilterns,  as  a  whole,  there  was  little  difference  in  point  of 
skill  ;  Farnham  Royal  was  the  one  instance  where  it  was  increasing,  but 
throughout  the  district  drunkenness  was  a  new  and  growing  difficulty."1 

At  Bledlow  the  labourers  were  said  to  have  less  energy  in  their  work 
and  to  give  less  time  to  it,  but  that  the  wages  too  were  less  ;  their  actual 
efficiency  was,  however,  much  the  same.  Elsewhere  the  unprofitable 
employment  of  men  in  gangs,  or  as  roundsmen,  was  the  chief  cause  of  the 
decrease  in  the  quality  of  labour.  The  wages  were  extremely  low,2"  and  no 
superintendence  was  exercised  over  the  gangs  of  workmen,  hence  there  was 
no  check  upon  idleness.  A  labourer  said  to  Sir  H.  Verney,  '  I  had  much 
rather  have  parish  work  which  does  not  exhaust  my  strength  than  farmer's 
work  and  another  shilling  a  week.' 

At  Steeple  Claydon  the  causes  of  deterioration  were  summed  up  as  the 
round  system,  low  wages,  want  of  constant  employment,  and  worse  food,  since 
the  labourers  were  no  longer  boarded  in  their  masters'  houses. 

Another  evil  which  arose  from  the  poor  relief  was  the  habit  of  changing 
masters,  but  it  was  generally  due  to  the  farmers,  who  did  not  wish  to  hire  a 
man  for  a  long  period."3  On  the  other  hand,  men  had  no  fear  of  want  by 
leaving  a  place,  since  the  parish  gave  them  as  much  whether  they  worked 
hard  or  not,  and  by  working  for  the  parish  there  was  more  time  for  working 
in  their  gardens,  &c. 

The  two  cases  at  Burnham  and  Leckhampstead,  where  the  best  labourers 
were  employed  on  the  same  farms  all  the  year  round,  and  some  of  them  at 
the  same  farm  for  many  years,  were  but  rare  exceptions,  the  majority  of 
farmers  employing  men  sent  to  them  at  the  choice  of  the  overseers  of  the 
poor. 

In  the  parishes  making  returns  to  the  commissioners  in  1832,  which 
were  situated  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  there  had  been  practically 
no  riots  at  all  ;  but  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wycombe  and  Colnbrook  "*  the 
disturbances  had  been  serious.  The  paper  mills  in  the  valleys  of  the  Wye 
and  the  Colne  were  burnt  down,  and  many  men  were  convicted  of  riot  and 
arson,  and  suffered  imprisonment  or  transportation.  At  Adstock,  Bledlow, 
Steeple  Claydon,  Oving,  Sherington,  and  Turville,  the  disturbances  were 
attributed  to  want  of  employment,  low  wages,  and  the  poor  laws.  At 
Turville  the  rising  was  due  to  '  distress  driving  to  desperation,'  and  only  at 
Oving  was  there  a  suggestion  that  new  machinery  was  unpopular.  The 

"°  But  compare  note  on  Upton-cum-Chalvey. 

nl  Beer-shops  had  sprung  up  in  out-of-the-way  comers,  and  are  specially  mentioned  at  Denham,  Fawley, 
and  Taplow. 

m  At  Whitchurch  and  Oving  the  wages  at  the  stone-pits  were  $J.  a  day. 

"'  At  Sherington,  owing  to  the  labour-assessment  system,  a  farmer  could  not  be  certain  of  having  the  men 
whom  he  would  have  been  willing  to  employ  for  a  long  period  sent  to  him  by  the  overseen.  A  worse 
workman  might  suddenly  be  substituted. 

"•  J.  K.  Fowler,  Recoil,  of  Old  Country  Lift. 

91 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

opportunities  for  planning  the  riots  in  all  parts  were  found  in  the  congregation 
of  large  numbers  of  men  in  the  stone-pits  and  on  the  roads,  doing  little  work 
under  no  supervision,  or  else  in  the  beer-shops  in  out-of-the-way  places.  The 
labourers  in  the  north  did  not  take  part  in  the  risings  to  so  serious  a  degree, 
possibly  because  of  the  extra  employment  in  lace-making.  The  rate  of  wages 
was  also  slightly  better  than  in  the  southern  districts.  The  riots  were 
certainly  successful  in  their  object  in  many  cases,  and  higher  wages  at  least 
were  obtained  by  unmarried  labourers,  but  as  late  as  1834  a  riot  took  place  at 
Aylesbury,  the  able-bodied  paupers  demanding  higher  wages. 

The  report  of  the  Royal  Commission  was  followed  by  the  Poor  Law 
Amendment  Act.  The  more  important  of  its  regulations  were  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  central  board  to  control  the  local  administration,  the  formation 
of  unions  of  parishes,  each  with  a  common  workhouse  for  the  district,  and 
the  institution  of  the  workhouse  test  in  the  case  of  all  able-bodied  persons 
applying  for  relief.  This  brought  to  an  end  the  whole  system  of  allowances, 
parish  labour,  or  roundsmen,  and  in  the  future  all  labourers  were  paid  their 
wages  by  the  master  for  whom  they  were  working. 

Not  only  did  the  artificial  depression  of  wages  cease,  but  the  labourer 
was  no  longer  prevented  from  seeking  better  work  in  other  parts  of  the 
country  by  the  necessity  of  remaining  in  his  place  of  settlement. 

At  first  a  good  deal  of  hardship  must  have  ensued,  especially  as  the  price 
of  corn  was  still  high.  It  had  dropped  to  some  extent  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace,  but  in  1830,  the  wheat  used  in  Aylesbury225  gaol  was  bought  at  prices 
varying  from  £2  ijs.  ^\d.  a  quarter  to  £3  I  is.  yd.  a  quarter  ;  flour  was  I  is. 
a  bushel,  and  the  i  Ib.  loaf  of  bread  2\d.  to  z\d.  On  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  Laws  the  fall  in  the  price  of  wheat  improved  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  labourer's  wages,  though  these  were  not  higher  than  9^.  or  IQJ.  a  week 
in  the  Vale,  and  8j.  in  the  Chilterns  in  i85o.226  After  the  poor-law 
reform  a  rise  had  been  effected,  since  in  1847,  while  higher  prices  still 
prevailed,  wages  had  been  zs.  or  3-r.  a  week  more  than  in  1850.  Foreign 
competition  affected  the  farmers  in  the  Vale  less  than  those  in  the  Chilterns, 
since  dairy-farming  was  not  influenced  by  the  low  prices.  The  nearness  of 
London  provided  the  best  market  for  butter  and  fat  cattle,  and  50^.  an  acre 
was  paid  for  the  best  grazing  lands,  while  the  comparatively  high  poor  rates 
caused  but  few  complaints.  As  early  as  1804  a  market  at  Aylesbury  for  fat 
cattle,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  weekly  cattle  market,  had  been  established, 
and  on  the  opening  up  of  the  country  by  railway  communication  fresh 
facilities  were  afforded  for  supplying  the  London  market.  The  population 
was  not  large,  and  few  labourers  were  out  of  employment,  although  only  ten 
to  fourteen  men  were  employed  on  a  dairy  farm  of  300  to  400  acres. 

In  the  Chiltern  districts  the  low  prices  of  corn  occasioned  very  general 
complaints.  The  farmer  could  not  make  arable  farming  pay  when  wheat  was 
less  than  56^.  to  64*.  a  quarter,  and  his  rents  had  not  fallen  at  all,  the  average 
being  30^.  an  acre.  Rather  lower  rents  were  paid  in  the  south-eastern  part 
of  the  county,  and  market  gardens  were  established  near  London. 

As  a  rule  the  covenants  as  to  cropping  had  died  out,  and  the  landlords 
did  not  interfere,  but  some  leases  enforcing  the  rotation  of  three  crops  and  a 
fallow  still  existed. 

m  Quart.  Sess.  Rec.  fle  Caird,  Brit.  Agrlc.  1850-1. 

92 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

The  labourer's  position  had  been  improved  to  a  great  extent  by  the  new 
poor  law,  the  low  prices,  and  higher  wages,  but  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  he  had  lost  to  a  great  extent  the  extra  income  obtained  by  his 
family  by  lace-making  and  straw-plaiting.  By  the  introduction  of  machinery 
a  much  cheaper  lace  was  made,  and  a  foreign  straw  plait  began  to  be  imported 
into  the  country,  which  to  a  great  extent  ruined  the  industry  in  Buckingham- 
shire. 

In  the  Amersham  Union  district  a  large  number  of  people  belong  to 
benefit  societies,  but  elsewhere  the  old  people  come  very  largely  on  the  rates, 
and  even  where  lace-making  and  straw-plaiting  can  still  give  some  occupation 
to  women  the  earnings  are  extremely  small.  The  low  rate  of  wages  largely 
accounts  for  this,  but  that  labourers  have  been  able  to  save  was  shown  in  the 
small  holdings  of  a  few  acres,8*7  taken  up  at  Claydon  by  labourers,  who  had 
been  earning  14*.  a  week. 

In  the  Chilterns  the  farmers  have  suffered  far  more  than  in  the  Vale 
during  the  agricultural  depression.  In  1894"*  the  rents  of  rich  pasture  lands 
had  fallen  much  less  than  those  of  purely  arable  land,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
dairy  produce  also  had  fallen  in  price  very  considerably.  The  farmers, 
however,  complained  less  of  railway  rates  than  is  common  elsewhere,  owing 
to  the  competition  between  the  three  railway  companies  whose  lines  run 
through  the  county.  At  that  time  there  was  no  shortage  of  labour  on  the 
farms  in  the  Vale,  but  in  many  places  it  is  an  increasing  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  agriculture.  The  railway  works  at  Wolverton,  for  instance,  draw  many 
young  men  in  the  district  away  from  agricultural  work,  attracted  by  the 
higher  wages  paid  at  the  works. 

The  average  wage  for  the  county  for  a  labourer  is  14^.  6</.,  but  the 
actual  rate  differs  considerably  not  only  in  different  districts,  but  on  different 
farms  in  the  same  neighbourhood.  Thus  on  two  farms  in  the  Claydon 
district  there  is  a  difference  of  is.  in  the  wages  paid  to  all  classes  of 
labourers.*" 

An  interesting  experiment  has  been  made  in  the  three  Claydons  of 
establishing  village  libraries830  under  the  Public  Libraries  Acts.  In  towns 
the  free  library  supported  by  the  rates  has  become  a  well-known  institution, 
but  in  villages  it  has  been  thought  to  be  impossible.  In  these  Buckingham- 
shire villages,  however,  successful  libraries  have  been  established,  and  Middle 
Claydon  claims  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  village  in  England  at  which 
such  a  library  has  been  opened.  The  neighbouring  places  also  share  the 
benefits  of  the  libraries  on  payment  of  a  small  subscription.  Books  are  pro- 
vided suitable  for  all  ages  of  readers,  and  an  interesting  point  about  the  move- 
ment is  the  high  standard  of  the  books  that  are  the  most  popular  and  eagerly 
read  in  the  cottages. 

Aylesbury  ducks  have  always  been  famous,  and  are  kept  by  many  of  the 
cottagers  and  small  tradesmen.  A  high  price  can  be  obtained  for  the  duck- 
lings, and  in  this  way  a  small  addition  to  the  regular  wages  can  be  obtained 
by  many  of  the  labourers.  Of  late  years  also  a  determined  attempt  has  been 

*"  Rtp.  ofSeltct  Com.  an  Small  HoUtngi,  1889. 

"*  Ref.  of  Roy.  Com.  on  Agri.  1897. 

m  From  information  supplied  by  Miss  Ruth  Verney. 

00  Lady  Verney,  Pub.  Lib.  Acts  in  yillage  Communitiei. 

93 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

made  to  revive  the  cottage  industries  of  the  county.  Under  the  auspices  of 
the  North  Bucks  Lace  Association,  formed  in  1897,  lace-making  has  been 
revived,  and  as  far  as  possible  a  market  has  been  found  for  the  hand-made  lace. 
Old  patterns  have  been  brought  to  light,  and  the  quality  of  the  work,  which 
had  greatly  decreased  during  the  decay  of  the  industry,  has  also  been 
improved. 


TABLE   OF   POPULATION,   1801   TO   1901 

Introductory  Notes 

AREA 

The  county  taken  in  this  table  is  that  existing  subsequently  to  7  &  8  Viet.,  chap.  61  (1844). 
By  this  Act  detached  parts  of  counties,  which  had  already  for  parliamentary  purposes  been  amalga- 
mated with  the  county  by  which  they  were  surrounded  or  with  which  the  detached  part  had  the 
longest  common  boundary  (2  &  3  Will.  IV,  chap.  64 — 1832),  were  annexed  to  the  same  county  for 
all  purposes  ;  some  exceptions  were,  however,  permitted. 

By  the  same  Act  (7  &  8  Viet.,  chap.  61)  the  detached  parts  of  counties,  transferred  to  other 
counties,  were  also  annexed  to  the  hundred,  ward,  wapentake,  &c.  by  which  they  were  wholly  or 
mostly  surrounded,  or  to  which  they  next  adjoined,  in  the  counties  to  which  they  were  transferred. 
The  hundreds,  &c.  in  this  table  also  are  given  as  existing  subsequently  to  this  Act. 

As  is  well  known,  the  famous  statute  of  Queen  Elizabeth  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  took  the  then- 
existing  ecclesiastical  parish  as  the  unit  for  Poor  Law  relief.  This  continued  for  some  centuries 
with  but  few  modifications  ;  notably  by  an  Act  passed  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  II  which  permitted  townships  and  villages  to  maintain  their  own  poor.  This  permission 
was  necessary  owing  to  the  large  size  of  some  of  the  parishes,  especially  in  the  north  of  England. 

In  1 80 1  the  parish  for  rating  purposes  (now  known  as  the  civil  parish,  i.e.  'an  area  for  which 
a  separate  poor  rate  is  or  can  be  made,  or  for  which  a  separate  overseer  is  or  can  be  appointed ') 
was  in  most  cases  co-extensive  with  the  ecclesiastical  parish  of  the  same  name ;  but  already  there 
were  numerous  townships  and  villages  rated  separately  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  also  there  were 
many  places  scattered  up  and  down  the  country,  known  as  extra-parochial  places,  which  paid  no  rates 
at  all.  Further,  many  parishes  had  detached  parts  entirely  surrounded  by  another  parish  or  parishes. 

Parliament  first  turned  its  attention  to  extra-parochial  places,  and  by  an  Act  (20  Viet.,  chap.  19 — 
1857)  it  was  laid  down  (a)  that  all  extra-parochial  places  entered  separately  in  the  1851  census  returns 
are  to  be  deemed  civil  parishes,  (£)  that  in  any  other  place  being,  or  being  reputed  to  be,  extra-parochial, 
overseers  of  the  poor  may  be  appointed,  and  (<:)  that  where,  however,  owners  and  occupiers  of  two- 
thirds  in  value  of  the  land  of  any  such  place  desire  its  annexation  to  an  adjoining  civil  parish,  it  may 
be  so  added  with  the  consent  of  the  said  parish.  This  Act  was  not  found  entirely  to  fulfil  its  object,  so 
by  a  further  Act  (31  &  32  Viet.,  chap.  122 — 1868)  it  was  enacted  that  every  such  place  remaining  on 
25  December,  1868,  should  be  added  to  the  parish  with  which  it  had  the  longest  common  boundary. 

The  next  thing  to  be  dealt  with  was  the  question  of  detached  parts  of  civil  parishes,  which  was 
done  by  the  Divided  Parishes  Acts  of  1876,  1879,  and  1882.  The  last,  which  amended  the  one  of 
1876,  provides  that  every  detached  part  of  an  entirely  extra-metropolitan  parish  which  is  entirely 
surrounded  by  another  parish  becomes  transferred  to  this  latter  for  civil  purposes,  or  if  the  population 
exceeds  300  persons  it  may  be  made  a  separate  parish.  These  Acts  also  gave  power  to  add  detached 
parts  surrounded  by  more  than  one  parish  to  one  or  more  of  the  surrounding  parishes,  and  also  to 
amalgamate  entire  parishes  with  one  or  more  parishes.  Under  the  1879  Act  it  was  not  necessary 
for  the  area  dealt  with  to  be  entirely  detached.  These  Acts  also  declared  that  every  part  added  to 
a  parish  in  another  county  becomes  part  of  that  county. 

Then  came  the  Local  Government  Act,  1888,  which  permits  the  alteration  of  civil  parish  boun- 
daries and  the  amalgamation  of  civil  parishes  by  Local  Government  Board  orders.  It  also  created  the 
administrative  counties.  The  Local  Government  Act  of  1 894  enacts  that  where  a  civil  parish  is  partly 
in  a  rural  district  and  partly  in  an  urban  district  each  part  shall  become  a  separate  civil  parish  ;  and 
also  that  where  a  civil  parish  is  situated  in  more  than  one  urban  district  each  part  shall  become  a 
separate  civil  parish,  unless  the  county  council  otherwise  direct.  Meanwhile,  the  ecclesiastical  parishes 
had  been  altered  and  new  ones  created  under  entirely  different  Acts,  which  cannot  be  entered  into 
here,  as  the  table  treats  of  the  ancient  parishes  in  their  civil  aspect. 

94 


SOCIAL   AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 


POPULATION 

The  first  census  of  England  was  taken  in  1801,  and  was  very  little  more  than  a  counting  of  the 
population  in  each  parish  (or  place),  excluding  all  persons,  such  as  soldiers,  sailors,  &c.,  who  formed 
no  part  of  its  ordinary  population.  It  was  the  de  facto  population  (i.e.  the  population  actually 
resident  at  a  particular  time)  and  not  the  de  jure  (i.e.  the  population  really  belonging  to  any  par- 
ticular place  at  a  particular  time).  This  principle  has  been  sustained  throughout  the  censuses. 

The  Army  at  home  (including  militia),  the  men  of  the  Royal  Navy  ashore,  and  the  registered 
seamen  ashore  were  not  included  in  the  population  of  the  places  where  they  happened  to  be,  at  the 
time  of  the  census,  until  1841.  The  men  of  the  Royal  Navy  and  other  persons  on  board  vessels  (naval 
or  mercantile)  in  home  ports  were  first  included  in  the  population  of  those  places  in  1851.  Others 
temporarily  present,  such  as  gipsies,  persons  in  barges,  &c.  were  included  in  1841  and  perhaps  earlier. 

GENERAL 

Up  to  and  including  1831  the  returns  were  mainly  made  by  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  and 
more  than  one  day  was  allowed  for  the  enumeration,  but  the  1841-1901  returns  were  made  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  registration  officers  and  the  enumeration  was  to  be  completed  in  one  day. 
The  Householder's  Schedule  was  first  used  in  1841.  The  exact  dates  of  the  censuses  are  as  follows  : — 

IO  March,  1801  30  May,  1831  8  April,  1861  6  April,  1891 

27  May,  1811  7  June,  1841  3  April,  1871  I  April,  1901 

28  May,  1821  31  March,  1851  4  April,  1881 

NOTES  EXPLANATORY  OF  THE  TABLE 

This  table  gives  the  population  of  the  ancient  county  and  arranges  the  parishes,  &c.  under  the 
hundred  or  other  subdivision  to  which  they  belong,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  constitution  of 
hundreds,  &c.  was  in  some  cases  doubtful. 

In  the  main  the  table  follows  the  arrangement  in  the  1 84 1  census  volume. 

The  table  gives  the  population  and  area  of  each  parish,  &c.  as  it  existed  in  1801,  as  far  as  possible. 

The  areas  are  those  supplied  by  the  Ordnance  Survey  Department,  except  in  the  case  of  those 
marked  '  e,'  which  were  calculated  by  other  authorities.  The  area  includes  inland  water  (if  any), 
but  not  tidal  water  or  foreshore. 

t  after  the  name  of  a  civil  parish  indicates  that  the  parish  was  affected  by  the  operation  of  the 
Divided  Parishes  Acts,  but  the  Registrar-General  failed  to  obtain  particulars  of  every  such  change. 
The  changes  which  escaped  notification  were,  however,  probably  small  in  area  and  with  little,  if  any, 
population.  Considerable  difficulty  was  experienced  both  in  1891  and  1901  in  tracing  the  results 
of  changes  effected  in  civil  parishes  under  the  provisions  of  these  Acts ;  by  the  Registrar-General's 
courtesy,  however,  reference  has  been  permitted  to  certain  records  of  formerly  detached  parts  of  parishes, 
which  has  made  it  possible  approximately  to  ascertain  the  population  in  1901  of  parishes  as  constituted 
prior  to  such  alterations,  though  the  figures  in  many  instances  must  be  regarded  as  partly  estimates. 

*  after  the  name  of  a  parish  (or  place)  indicates  that  such  parish  (or  place)  contains  a  union 
workhouse  which  was  in  use  in  (or  before)  1851  and  was  still  in  use  in  1901. 

t  after  the  name  of  a  parish  (or  place)  indicates  that  the  ecclesiastical  parish  of  the  same  name 
at  the  1901  census  was  co-extensive  with  such  parish  (or  place). 

O  in  the  table  indicates  that  there  is  no  population  on  the  area  in  question. 

—  in  the  table  indicates  that  no  population  can  be  ascertained. 

The  word  'chapelry'  seems  often  to  have  been  used  as  an  equivalent  for  'township*  in  1841, 
which  census  volume  has  been  adopted  as  the  standard  for  names  and  descriptions  of  areas. 

The  figures  in  italics  in  the  table  relate  to  the  area  and  population  of  such  subdivisions  of 
ancient  parishes  as  chapelries,  townships,  and  hamlets. 


95 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


TABLE    OF    POPULATION 

1801 — 1901 


— 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

1811 

1821 

1831 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Ancient   or   Geographi- 
cal County* 

477.151 

107,900 

117,864 

134.522 

146,977 

156,439 

163,723 

167,993 

175.926 

176,323 

185,458 

195.905 

PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

1811 

1821 

1831 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Ashendon 

Hundred 

Ashendon     .     .     . 

2,128 

248 

319 

339 

368 

312 

290 

325 

274 

237 

199 

212 

Aston  Sandford  %  . 

679 

71 

76 

84 

82 

86 

88 

59 

58 

59 

48 

46 

Boarstall  .... 

3,078 

179 

1  88 

231 

268 

252 

243 

255 

244 

209 

188 

IS' 

Brill  f  

^,IOQ 

8?9 

864 

i,  060 

1,281 

1.  440 

I.  in 

1.4^2 

T.-2C-3 

i  280 

1.  251 

1,  2o6 

ChearsleyJ  .     .     . 

j)  i  vy 

943 

j  y 

214 

217 

263 

1         J 

337 

,^^7 
308 

*  J  3 
292 

•  ,T  3 

287 

*,J  J  J 

3" 

*  t~,P 

235 

*  ,*O 
242 

212 

ChiltonJ.     .     .     . 

2,069 

316 

338 

379 

3M 

364 

398 

364 

336 

301 

287 

285 

Claydon,  East  .     . 

2,396 

299 

3°9 

339 

336 

378 

36l 

385 

376 

341 

343 

336 

Claydon,  Middle    . 

2,640 

103 

129 

1  60 

136 

127 

I6S 

146 

'39 

225 

227 

231 

Crendon,  Long"  f  I 

3,46i 

991 

989 

1,212 

1,382 

1,656 

1,700 

1,570 

1,365 

1,179 

1,187 

1,075 

Dorton     .... 

1,477 

105 

124 

133 

158 

IS' 

'39 

137 

125 

in 

137 

140 

Fleet  Marston  8  J   . 

934 

46 

43 

41 

38 

3° 

23 

37 

27 

51 

53 

Grandborough  J     . 

1,580 

230 

251 

286 

341 

345 

359 

374 

367 

300 

301 

297 

Grendon 

2,536 

285 

271 

312 

379 

384 

427 

45  i 

448 

365 

373 

323 

Underwood  f  t 

Hogshaw  with 

1,322 

55 

55 

68 

48 

So 

5° 

5° 

61 

62 

78 

56 

Fulbrook 

Ickford  (part  of)  4  . 

1,025 

271 

308 

324 

382 

374 

398 

416 

398 

354 

345 

3'9 

llmerf     .     .     .     . 

684 

74 

69 

68 

78 

79 

82 

79 

70 

63 

48 

5' 

Kingsey    (part 

915 

165 

169 

204 

222 

178 

202 

171 

'45 

'Si 

124 

85 

of)6t 

Ludgershall  J  :  — 

2,823 

396 

412 

576 

585 

566 

514 

536 

500 

422 

422 

354 

Ludgershall  f 

2,562 

359 

— 

520 

500 

461 

482 

461 

395 

382 

325 

Kingswood 

261 

37 

— 

56 



66 

53 

54 

39 

27 

40 

29 

Hamlet 

Marston,  North 

1,983 

478 

5i3 

558 

606 

619 

692 

644 

643 

649 

580 

524 

Oakley  \\    .     .     . 

2,283 

305 

329 

382 

4'3 

391 

425 

420 

442 

421 

445 

398 

OvingJ    .     .     .     . 

990 

257 

306 

372 

384 

391 

442 

436 

440 

385 

364 

3l8 

PitchcottJ    .     .     . 

925 

51 

56 

44 

28 

68 

59 

36 

51 

35 

4i 

40 

Quainton  J  :  — 

5,346 

870 

942 

1,017 

1,056 

i,  08  1 

945 

929 

921 

865 

885 

838 

Quainton 

3,805 

750 

848 

911 

952 

966 

854 

864 

858 

804 

807 

787 

Township  f 

Shipton  Lee 

1,541 

120 

94 

106 

104 

115 

91 

65 

63 

61 

78 

51 

Hamlet  f 

Quarrendon      .     . 

1,948 

55 

54 

68 

60 

64 

64 

58 

56 

37 

52 

65 

Shabbington  f  J    . 

2,152 

184 

242 

241 

298 

366 

397 

371 

395 

351 

302 

262 

Towersey  J  .     .     . 

1,380 

294 

325 

367 

403 

413 

448 

449 

434 

342 

349 

305 

i  Ancient  County.— The  County  as  defined  by  the  Act  7*8  Viet.  cap.  61.  This  Act  affected  Buckinghamshire  to  the 
following  extent: — (A)  Annexed  to  it  (i)  Lillingstowe  Lovell  Ancient  Parish,  (2)  Boycott  Hamlet  in  Stowe  Ancient 
Parish,  (3)  Coleshill  Hamlet  in  Amersham  Ancient  Parish,  and  (4)  the  part  of  Lewknor  Ancient  Parish  shown  in  this 
Table;  (B)  severed  from  it  (i)  Studley  Hamlet  in  Beckley  Ancient  Parish  (to  Oxfordshire),  and  Caversfield  Ancient 
Parish  (to  Oxfordshire). 

The  population  given  in  this  Table  for  1811  is  exclusive  of  201,  and  for  1821  of  611,  militiamen  who  could  not  be 
assigned  to  the  places  to  which  they  belonged  (see  also  notes  to  Ickford,  Kingsey,  Luffield  Abbey,  Ibstone,  Lewknor, 
Stony  Stratford  West  Side,  and  Stoke  Poges). 

'  Long  Crendon. — Migration  to  Redditch  to  seek  work  in  the  manufacture  of  needles  was  said,  in  1861,  to  be  partly 
the  cause  of  the  decline  in  population. 

3  Fleet  Marston. — The  population  may  have  been  included  in  that  given  for  Waddesdon  Ancient  Parish  in  1801. 

*  Ickford. — The  remainder  is  in  Oxfordshire  (Ewelme  Hundred).  The  entire  population  is  shown  in  Buckingham- 
shire, 1801-31. 

5  Kingsey. — The  remainder  is  in  Oxfordshire  (Lewknor  Hundred).  The  entire  population  is  shown  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, 1801-31.  The  population  given  for  the  part  in  Buckinghamshire  in  1841  is  too  small  owing  to  an  error  as 
to  the  boundary  between  the  Buckinghamshire  part  and  the  Oxfordshire  part. 

96 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 


TABLE   OF   POPULATION,    1801—1901  (continue*) 


PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

1811 

1821 

i8jl 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Aihendon 

Hundred  (cont) 

Waddesdon  »•  J  :  — 

7,282 

1,292 

1,283 

1,616 

',734 

1,75° 

',743 

1,786 

1,838 

1,651 

',959 

1,837 

VVaddesdon 

5,546 

1fi40 

7,0  20 

1J27 

1,454 

1,408 

1,439 

1,470 

If  OS 

M75 

1f37 

7,547 

Township  t 

Westcott  Hamlet 

1,411 

231 

228 

261 

242 

303 

273 

278 

296 

245 

282 

255 

Woodham 

325 

21 

35 

28 

38 

39 

31 

38 

37 

31 

40 

35 

Hamlet  t 

Winchendon, 

'iS54 

244 

266 

284 

294 

291 

284 

3'6 

283 

257 

272 

222 

Nether  \ 

Winchendon, 

1,202 

206 

204 

216 

223 

218 

1  86 

220 

209 

1  88 

'So 

142 

Upper  t 

Wotton        Under- 

2,487 

213 

254 

344 

3'2 

26S 

253 

266 

235 

221 

247 

235 

woodf  J 

Worminghall  J 

1,510 

266 

*54 

3'4 

297 

3'4 

360 

354 

34' 

303 

269 

247 

Aylesbury 

Hundred 

Aston  Clinton  :  — 

3,809 

721 

823 

908 

1,001 

1,025 

1,096 

',297 

',435 

',495 

',393 

',279 

Aston  Clinton 

— 

584 

652 

723 

854 

847 

928 

1,108 

1,235 

1J17 

1J46 

1,131 

Township  J 

St  Leonard 

— 

137 

171 

185 

147 

178 

168 

189 

200 

178 

147 

148 

Hamlet  \ 

Bierton  with 

2,442 

518 

5°3 

620 

605 

605 

688 

691 

746 

812 

982 

827 

Broughton  t 

Bledlow  with 

4,169 

917 

93' 

1,050 

','35 

1,205 

1,202 

1,189 

1,170 

1,070 

978 

854 

Bledlow  Ridge  • 

Bucklandtt      . 

',555 

288 

33' 

496 

510 

537 

662 

732 

820 

863 

847 

730 

CuddingtonJ     . 

',  3°» 

435 

462 

547 

620 

626 

623 

590 

532 

4/6 

443 

455 

Uinton'J     .     . 

3.897 

668 

713 

817 

893 

818 

859 

814 

790 

718 

747 

663 

Ellesborough  \  . 

3,595 

480 

469 

581 

665 

708 

782 

724 

703 

608 

641 

577 

Haddenham  \  . 

3,274 

964 

1,038 

1,294 

1484 

1,545 

',703 

',623 

i,5'4 

',443 

1,282 

1,223 

Halton  t  .    .    • 

J,456 

'59 

171 

'95 

209 

198 

'57 

'47 

'55 

'95 

226 

1  88 

Hampden,  Great  t 

1,763 

228 

235 

281 

286 

290 

308 

266 

262 

255 

246 

207 

Harupden,   Little  t 

5'S 

79 

69 

88 

105 

83 

73 

68 

6l 

46 

76 

48 

Hartwellt    .    . 

911 

"5 

221 

>33 

'37 

138 

'5' 

'37 

'43 

146 

ii.s 

118 

Horsenden    .     . 

535 

52 

34 

5° 

37 

27 

5' 

45 

46 

46 

39 

35 

Hulcottft     .     . 

717 

117 

125 

'39 

'45 

'33 

150 

'43 

125 

"9 

1  08 

88 

Kimble,  Greatf 

2,507 

3>6 

3>9 

360 

436 

489 

501 

408 

459 

422 

395 

345 

Kimble,  Little  f 

850 

142 

'43 

165 

176 

'77 

184 

182 

203 

161 

'7o 

158 

Lee     .... 

502 

150 

172 

198 

186 

142 

126 

116 

104 

122 

"9 

125 

Missenden,  Great 

5,820 

1,411 

',576 

',735 

1,827 

2,225 

2,097 

2,250 

2,278 

2,170 

2,385 

2,166 

Missenden,  Little 

3,214 

625 

678 

814 

937 

1,011 

1,142 

1,089 

1,148 

1,113 

1,136 

1,112 

Risborough, 

2,873 

768 

899 

934 

i,  01  8 

',083 

1,064 

985 

938 

847 

810 

7'4 

Monks  t 

Risborough.Princes 

4,697 

',554 

1,644 

1,958 

2,122 

2,206 

2,3  '7 

2,392 

2,549 

2,418 

2,318 

2,189 

Stoke  Mandeville  f 

',773 

248 

34' 

402 

461 

493 

538 

477 

528 

497 

480 

4" 

Stone7  1  .     .     .     . 

2,568 

5'5 

592 

716 

773 

809 

785 

1,094 

1,292 

1,368 

',433 

',393 

Wendover  t  .     .    . 

5,832 

1,397 

1,481 

1,602 

2,008 

',877 

',937 

1,932 

2,033 

1,902 

2,036 

2,009 

Weston  Turville  J 

2,323 

497 

524 

611 

637 

718 

748 

724 

812 

824 

79' 

720 

Buckingham 

Hundred 

Addington  J      .     . 

1,303 

93 

99 

89 

72 

84 

7« 

III 

141 

'34 

100 

1  02 

AdstockJ     .    .     . 

i,  166 

289 

3'4 

393 

445 

419 

393 

385 

383 

352 

330 

329 

Akeley  t  .     .     .     . 

1,325 

245 

257 

295 

291 

362 

373 

366 

378 

387 

380 

34i 

Barton  HartshornJ 

892 

100 

92 

"3 

'45 

165 

'37 

126 

127 

in 

102 

78 

Beachampton  J 

1,528 

187 

217 

251 

254 

248 

248 

272 

283 

217 

181 

1  80 

Biddlesden  ft   •     • 

2,052 

147 

160 

'75 

184 

169 

144 

169 

150 

125 

124 

84 

ChetwodeJ  .    .    . 

1,171 

123 

98 

'3' 

'49 

197 

217 

'77 

'73 

'55 

170 

'57 

Edgcottf      .    .    . 

1,140 

122 

121 

1  60 

i  So 

'95 

193 

182 

224 

'87 

150 

136 

FoscottJ      .    .    . 

719 

85 

9' 

"9 

107 

"9 

99 

96 

79 

72 

58 

46 

HillesdenJ   .     .     . 

2,606 

183 

216 

247 

251 

262 

244 

251 

274 

221 

'97 

181 

LeckhampsteadJ   . 

2,57" 

346 

397 

S'9 

499 

505 

518 

482 

447 

340 

302 

241 

*•  See  note  3,  unit. 

•  Dinlim  also  extends  Into  Ashendon  and  Desborough  Hundreds.     It  is  entirely  shown  In  Aylesbury  Hundred. 
'  Slant. — The  increase  in  population  in  1861  is  attributed  to  the  erection  of  the  County  Lunatic  Asylum  between 
1851  and  1861  ;  the  Asylum  was  enlarged  between  1861  and  1871. 

2  97  '3 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


TABLE   OF   POPULATION,    1801—1901  (continued) 


PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

iSn 

1821 

1831 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Buckingham 

Hundred  —  cont.) 

Lillingstone 

2,223' 

III 

132 

127 

150 

187 

207 

198 

250 

275 

273 

259 

Dayrell  ft 

Lillingstone 

1,269' 

135 

144 

1  60 

159 

140 

171 

185 

152 

161 

156 

'37 

LovellfJ 

Luffield  Abbey 

216 

16 

— 

— 

10 

5 

17 

18 

5 

8 

7 

6 

Extra  Par.  8 

Maids'  Moreton  J  . 

1,366 

239 

3'S 

407 

474 

570 

573 

543 

5" 

448 

444 

425 

Marsh  Gibbon  J    . 

2,818 

534 

6?6 

738 

812 

863 

944 

858 

876 

743 

696 

598 

Padbury  J     .     .     . 

2,029 

459 

510 

618 

708 

696 

660 

550 

60  1 

530 

490 

439 

Preston  Bissett  J    . 

l.523 

322 

337 

396 

502 

5i7 

554 

469 

485 

344 

31' 

290 

Radclive  J     .     .     . 

1,186 

252 

227 

296 

334 

364 

387 

356 

339 

367 

321 

295 

Shalstone    with] 

The  Den,  or  h 

1,383 

158 

183 

201 

198 

20  1 

247 

246 

232 

1  86 

172 

205 

Old     Wick  | 

Steeple   Claydon  J 

3,329 

646 

704 

804 

881 

849 

869 

946 

906 

852 

780 

721 

Stowe't.     .     .     . 

3,088 

3" 

395 

478 

490 

410 

342 

352 

370 

338 

3" 

246 

Thornborough  J 

2,392 

458 

539 

572 

673 

762 

754 

694 

687 

577 

564 

481 

Thornton      .     .     . 

1,347 

85 

70 

78 

94 

101 

103 

in 

103 

67 

80 

78 

Tingewick  J 

2,178 

642 

711 

832 

866 

911 

877 

914 

945 

787 

7'4 

635 

Turweston  \      .     . 

1,295 

211 

252 

3M 

371 

361 

322 

335 

362 

305 

269 

257 

Twyford  J  :  — 

4,458 

517 

547 

623 

660 

754 

848 

694 

596 

56i 

554 

534 

Twyford    .     .     . 

1,567 

296 

317 

367 

416 

452 

577 

429 

346 

339 

349 

340 

Charndon 

7,9/7 

146 

153 

165 

160 

190 

204 

170 

165 

150 

131 

148 

Hamlet 

Poundon  Hamlet 

980 

75 

77 

91 

84 

112 

133 

95 

85 

72 

74 

46 

Water  Stratford  J  . 

I,IO2 

143 

160 

167 

1  86 

172 

179 

179 

227 

1  88 

'37 

"3 

Westbury  ft     .     . 

2,530 

308 

320 

345 

391 

471 

458 

379 

419 

417 

357 

302 

Burnham 

Hundred 

Amersham  \  :  — 

7,969 

2,3M 

2,688 

3,104 

3,313 

3,645 

3,662 

3,550 

3,259 

3,001 

3,129 

3,209 

Amersham  * 

6,119 

2,130 

2,259 

2,612 

2,816 

3,098 

3,104 

3,0  J  9 

2,726 

2,500 

2,613 

2,674 

Coleshill  Hamlet 

1,850 

184 

429 

492 

497 

547 

558 

531 

533 

501 

516 

535 

Beaconsfield  J  .     . 

4,5°4 

1,149 

1,461 

1,736 

1,763 

1,732 

1,684 

1,662 

I,524 

1,635 

',773 

1,570 

Burnham  :  — 

6,866 

1,519 

1,640 

I,9l8 

2,137 

2,284 

2,301 

2,233 

2,281 

2,356 

2,9'5 

3,689 

Burnham  f    .     . 

6,383 

1,354 

1,490 

1,716 

1,930 

2,095 

2,142 

2,081 

2,179 

2,241 

2,513 

3,144 

Boveney, 

483 

165 

150 

202 

207 

189 

159 

152 

102 

115 

402 

545 

Lower  Chap. 

Chalfont  St.  Giles  J 

3,726 

762 

924 

1,104 

1,297 

1,228 

1,169 

1,217 

1,243 

1,264 

1,286 

1,362 

Chalfont  St.  Peter 

4,758 

',  '74 

1,153 

1,351 

1,416 

1,483 

1,482 

1,344 

1,459 

1,456 

1,509 

1,753 

Chenies,  or  Isle- 

i,759 

423 

510 

595 

649 

625 

565 

468 

495 

388 

378 

324 

hampstead 

Cheyneys  J 

Chesham      .     .     . 

12,746 

3,969 

4,441 

5,032 

5,388 

5,593 

6,098 

5,985 

6,488 

6,502 

8,0  1  8 

9,005 

Chesham  Bois  J     . 

910 

135 

130 

100 

157 

218 

185 

218 

258 

35' 

552 

767 

Dorney  t      ... 

1,560 

190 

247 

279 

268 

324 

355 

367 

374 

3'9 

401 

358 

Farnham  Royal  :  — 

3,  '04 

851 

1,053 

1,149 

1,193 

1,258 

1,298 

1,378 

1,443 

1,5/6 

1,586 

1,647 

Farnham  Royal 

1,664 

550 

624 

686 

777 

792 

787 

817 

884 

1,042 

1,053 

1,162 

Hedgerley  Dean 

551 

77 

180 

199 

777 

185 

196 

227 

242 

204 

249 

200 

Hamlet 

Seer  Green 

889 

224 

249 

264 

245 

281 

315 

334 

317 

330 

284 

285 

Hamlet  J 

Hitcham  .... 

1,484 

200 

161 

172 

232 

267 

236 

205 

270 

395 

5'2 

553 

Penn9      .     .     .     . 

3,992 

927 

950 

1,054 

'.'°3 

1,040 

1,254 

1,096 

1,  086 

I,IOO 

1,  02  1 

1,030 

Taplow    .... 

1,762 

422 

592 

586 

647 

744 

704 

8n 

1,028 

1,063 

1,029 

1,056 

Cotttsloc  Hundred 

Aston  Abbots  J 

2,198 

276 

267 

321 

303 

356 

343 

3" 

327 

290 

281 

200 

Cheddington  f  J     • 

1,429 

273 

301 

341 

375 

439 

508 

628 

745 

744 

654 

580 

Cholesbury  J     .     . 

178 

122 

114 

132 

127 

124 

i'3 

105 

109 

99 

95 

107 

Creslow         .     . 

887 

6 

5 

5 

5 

7 

10 

9 

6 

10 

12 

5 

8  Luffitld  Abbey. — The  population  was  included  in  that  given  for  Stowe  Ancient  Parish  in   1811  and   1821.      A  small 
part  appears  to  be  in  Northamptonshire  ;  the  entire  area  and  population  is  included  in  Buckinghamshire. 

9  Penn.— The  decline  in  population  in  1861  is  attributed  to  the  absence  of  woodmen  temporarily  present  in 
1851. 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

TABLE  OF   POPULATION,    1801—1901  (continued) 


PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

1811 

I82I 

1831 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Cottesloe 

Hundred  (cont.) 

Cublington  J     .    . 

1,223 

271 

233 

259 

284 

290 

287 

288 

283 

259 

223 

215 

Drayton 

1,888 

191 

224 

272 

27S 

23' 

261 

268 

227 

'94 

177 

'49 

Beaucbamp  f 

Drayton 

1,75° 

307 

287 

372 

416 

526 

490 

468 

479 

473 

425 

369 

Parslow  10  J 

Dunton  J      .     .     . 

'•'97 

85 

89 

98 

116 

107 

98 

1  06 

96 

So 

7' 

82 

Edlesboroush  f  t  • 

4,647 

997 

1,146 

1,378 

M90 

1,722 

1,838 

1,671 

1,814     i,598 

'  ,448 

1,099 

Grove  J    .     .     .     . 

437 

25 

33 

18 

21 

25 

38 

'9 

23         17 

'9 

'9 

Hardwick  t  :— 

3,001 

563 

554 

627 

640 

747 

739 

708 

7'7       647 

596 

488 

Hardwick      .     . 

1,213 

178 

196 

207 

235 

319 

292 

283 

254 

214 

183 

767 

Weedon 

1,788 

385 

358 

420 

405 

428 

447 

425 

463 

433 

413 

321 

Hamlet  t 

Hawridge  J  .     .     . 

697 

121 

144 

208 

217 

233 

270 

276 

254 

242 

214 

209 

Hoggeston  J      .     . 

1,57' 

197 

190 

1  88 

'73 

204 

220 

207 

I91 

'75 

1  66 

129 

Horwood,  Great  J  . 

3-^7' 

537 

581 

688 

720 

712 

834 

846 

866 

712 

639 

554 

Horwood,  Little  J  . 

1,948 

339 

325 

429 

43' 

392 

427 

449 

411 

309 

304 

267 

Ivinghoeft      •    • 

5,618 

1,215 

1,361 

1,665 

',648 

1,843 

2,024 

1,849 

1,722 

1,380 

1,270 

',077 

Linslade  J     .     .     . 

1,693 

203 

281 

370 

407 

883 

1,309 

1,511 

',633 

',724 

1,982 

2,'57 

Marsworth  f          "\ 

f  259 

264 

39' 

427 

472 

463 

T 

Long  Mars  ton 
and  Asthorpe     j 

1,266 

f- 

_ 

12 

16 

}-549 

564 

455 

385 

396 

Extra  Par.     J 

I 

J 

Mentmore  J       .     . 

'-575 

279 

298 

302 

329 

348 

356 

309 

408 

3'4 

307 

289 

Mursleyut.     .     . 

2,975 

3.8 

3'0 

473 

495 

479 

553 

482 

488 

363 

369 

367 

Pitstone  :  — 

2,459 

360 

389 

461 

578 

522 

545 

581 

612 

544 

574 

484 

Nettleden 

804 

85 

101 

108 

142 

98 

107 

124 

133 

111 

115 

88 

Hamlet 

Pitstone  1  1   •    • 

1,655 

275 

288 

353 

436 

424 

438 

457 

479 

433 

459 

396 

Shenley  (part 

of)  "  :— 

Brook  End 

1,659 

232 

230 

224 

244 

264 

283 

289 

290 

219 

215 

1  86 

Township 

Slapton  f  t  .    .    • 

1,211 

228 

202 

3H 

36o 

336 

298 

325 

325 

265 

2'4 

161 

Soulburyl    .     .     . 
Stewkleyt    •     •     • 

4,226 
3,982 

526 
680 

§02 

547 
933 

578 
',053 

615 
1,262 

628 
',432 

589 
'.453 

55' 
',43' 

475 
1,36' 

510 
',328 

550 
i,'59 

Swanboume  J  .     . 

2,552 

529 

499 

616 

668 

679 

646 

603 

558 

474 

429 

405 

Tattenhoe,  or 

647 

3' 

24 

16 

'3 

'5 

55 

64 

63 

'7 

45 

16 

Tottenhoe  J 

Whaddon  :— 

3-772 

810 

8n 

900 

889 

910 

987 

955 

936 

745 

704 

584 

Nash  Hamlet    . 

7,247 

265 

263 

375 

377 

366 

439 

462 

460 

340 

306 

263 

Whaddon 

2,525 

545 

548 

525 

512 

544 

548 

493 

476 

405 

398 

321 

Township  J 

Whitchurch  .    .    . 

I,7»7 

646 

7'4 

845 

928 

930 

9'5 

884 

799 

725 

709 

619 

WingJ 
Wingrave  with 

5,703 
2,488 

993 
602 

937 
588 

1,086 
675 

1,152 
783 

',274 
814 

1,376 
8'3 

'IS 

1,520 
908 

1,636 
903 

',799 
926 

1,740 
827 

Rowsham  f  t 

Winslow  *  t  .     .     . 

1,920 

1,101 

1,222 

1,222 

1,290 

',434 

1,889 

1,890 

1,826 

1,663 

1,704 

'-70S 

Dcsborough 

Hundred 

I'.radenham  ft-     • 

996 

170 

181 

220 

363 

226 

138 

185 

169 

183 

152 

'54 

Fawley  J  .     .     .     . 

2,213 

181 

189 

276 

254 

280 

254 

272 

289 

302 

266 

235 

Fingest    .... 

1,285 

3'6 

303 

295 

340 

379 

3»7 

352 

337 

333 

364 

367 

Hambleden  .     .     . 

6,598 

1,074 

1,110 

I,28l 

',357 

1,241 

',365 

1,464 

M6I 

1,502 

',557 

",5'7 

Hedsor  t  .     .     .     . 

548 

140 

162 

1  88 

207 

194 

'83 

'75 

225 

'55 

191 

166 

Hitchenden,        or 

5,828 

887 

989 

1,247 

',457 

1,481 

',54' 

',653 

>,792 

1,803 

',765 

1,728 

Hughendon 

Ibstone  (part  of;  '* 

848 

258 

247 

272 

3'3 

177 

162 

'53 

140 

'42 

'49 

116 

Lewknor(partof)I4t 

456 

7' 

63 

52 

61 

33 

24 

10  Drayton  Parslow. — There  were  52  persons  temporarily  present  at  the  1841  Census,  owing  to  the  annual  village 
feast. 

11  Murtliy. — The  decline  in  population  in  1861  is  attributed  to  the  absence  of  men  temporarily  present  in  1851  and 
engaged  on  railway  works. 

"  Shenlty  Anoint  Parish  is  situated  partly  In  Cottesloe  Hundred  and  partly  in  Newport  Hundred. 

u  Ibstatu. — The  remainder  is  in  Oxfordshire  (Pirton  Hundred).  The  entire  population  is  shown  in  Buckingham- 
shire 1801-31. 

14  Ltwknor. — The  remainder  is  in  Oxfordshire  (Lewknor  Hundred),  where  the  entire  population  is  shown 
1801-41. 

99 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


TABLE   OF   POPULATION,   1801—1901  (continued) 


PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

1811 

1821 

1831 

1841 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Dtsborough 

Hundred  (cent) 

Marlow,  Great  t 

6,245 

3>236 

3,965 

3,763 

4,237 

4,480 

4485 

4,661 

4,701 

4,763 

5,250 

5,645 

Marlow,  Little  f 

3,328 

728 

730 

775 

783 

927 

894 

790 

964 

9/6 

922 

939 

Medmenham  J  . 

2,442 

284 

323 

369 

384 

385 

401 

380 

310 

336 

320 

387 

Radnage  \    .     . 

1,369 

306 

319 

366 

399 

401 

433 

478 

476 

427 

452 

385 

Saunderton  *  1  1 

1,831 

'93 

I92 

2IO 

231 

232 

380 

428 

411 

424 

373 

370 

Turville  J      .     . 

2,328 

376 

382 

362 

442 

476 

436 

437 

456 

423 

468 

371 

Wooburn  f  I     • 

3,133 

1,401 

1,604 

1,831 

1,927 

1,830 

2,026 

2,245 

2,343 

2,431 

2,727 

3,328 

Wycombe,     Chep 

6,395 

4,248 

4,756 

5,599 

6,299 

6,480 

7,179 

8,373 

10,492 

13,154 

16,409 

19,282 

ping 

Wycombe,  West.  . 

6,533 

1,330 

1,362 

1,545 

1,901 

2,002 

2,000 

2,161 

2,343 

2,390 

2,599 

3,466 

Newport  Hundred 

Astwood  f  t  •     •     • 

1,286 

160 

209 

263 

268 

243 

268 

247 

268 

222 

187 

168 

Bletchley  :— 

3,364 

1,038 

1,103 

1,160 

1,254 

1,450 

1,544 

1,658 

1,862 

2,432 

3,3ii 

4,269 

Bletchley  .    .     . 

2,348 

824 

916 

884 

1,011 

1,183 

1,303 

1,416 

1,619 

2,184 

3,070 

4,068 

Water       Eaton 

1,016 

214 

187 

276 

243 

267 

241 

242 

243 

248 

241 

201 

Township 

Brad  well-.     .     .     . 

917 

255 

259 

271 

257 

381 

381 

1,658 

2,409 

2,460 

2,899 

3,946 

Bradwell      Abbey 

447 

12 

10 

2O 

17 

21 

16 

'4 

10 

28 

16 

18 

Extra  Par. 

Brayfield,  Cold  .     . 

744 

82 

75 

80 

93 

83 

80 

99 

86 

85 

80 

79 

Brickhill,  Bow  J     . 

1,848 

43' 

392 

438 

475 

566 

59' 

546 

468 

460 

464 

448 

Brickhill,  Great  \  . 

2,383 

560 

554 

558 

776 

721 

730 

590 

566 

557 

522 

491 

Brickhill,  Little  J  . 

1,367 

385 

409 

485 

5'4 

563 

483 

423 

291 

241 

3'2 

278 

Broughtont.     .     . 

937 

157 

194 

191 

172 

168 

182 

155 

174 

'59 

122 

H3 

Calvertonf  •     •     • 

2,011 

321 

332 

370 

425 

493 

505 

595 

579 

550 

658 

711 

Castle  Thorpe  .     . 

1,372 

260 

242 

348 

366 

365 

346 

338 

366 

329 

441 

539 

Chicheley  J  .     .     . 

2,O7O 

189 

179 

219 

218 

256 

271 

265 

250 

181 

1  80 

208 

Clifton  Reynes  \    . 

i,454 

221 

238 

230 

246 

213 

217 

212 

216 

203 

170 

122 

Crawley,  North  f  t 

3>362 

6l7 

681 

775 

791 

865 

914 

981 

933 

699 

622 

541 

Emberton  15  f    .     . 

2,364 

549 

541 

549 

598 

658 

613 

632 

637 

653 

526 

5IO 

Gayhurstf   .     .     • 

1,012 

89 

89 

90 

118 

116 

88 

129 

95 

9' 

91 

IO4 

Hanslope      .     .     . 

5,801 

1,289 

1,345 

1,479 

1,623 

1,553 

1,604 

1,792 

1,726 

1,584 

1,489 

1,424 

Hardmead  ft-     • 

i,'45 

45 

68 

75 

83 

83 

61 

9' 

92 

92 

79 

5' 

Haversham  J    .     . 

1,634 

223 

256 

289 

313 

283 

280 

288 

262 

237 

224 

200 

Lathbury  ft     •     • 

1,394 

189 

177 

164 

172 

127 

147 

147 

136 

121 

152 

1  88 

Lavendon  16  1    •     • 

2,615 

544 

546 

613 

664 

691 

769 

820 

916 

783 

665 

704 

Linford,  Great  "  J 

1,836 

313 

376 

408 

420 

474 

486 

557 

468 

437 

481 

478 

Linford,  Little  J 

727 

44 

40 

73 

55 

64 

57 

58 

58 

69 

70 

70 

Loughton  J  .     .     . 

1,536 

302 

288 

293 

325 

361 

335 

386 

359 

324 

348 

371 

Milton  Keynes  J    . 

1,909 

280 

287 

338 

334 

327 

3'7 

346 

321 

244 

207 

219 

Moulsoe  J     .     .     . 

1,654 

282 

229 

260 

303 

297 

239 

234 

241 

194 

214 

190 

Newton  Blossom- 

1,014 

221 

211 

243 

237 

264 

332 

277 

320 

260 

191 

177 

ville18! 

Newton 

1,735 

459 

486 

486 

473 

565 

595 

547 

537 

471 

415 

424 

Longville  J 

Newport 

3,432 

2,048 

2,5'S 

3,103 

3,385 

3,569 

3,651 

3,823 

3,824 

3,686 

3,788 

4,028 

Pagnel  *  t 

Olney  :— 

3,260 

2,075 

2,268 

2,339 

2,418 

2,437 

2,329 

2,358 

2,74i 

2,430 

2,467 

2,740 

Olney 

2,359 

2,003 

— 

2,344 

2,362 

2,265 

2,284 

2,672 

2,362 

2,409 

2,705 

Township  "  " 

Warrington 

901 

72 

— 

— 

74 

75 

64 

74 

69 

68 

58 

33 

Hamlet  f 

Ravenstone  1  1 

1,920 

381 

370 

418 

430 

415 

446 

400 

431 

370 

300 

224 

Shenley  (part 

of)18"  :— 

Church  End 

1,662 

232 

211 

225 

240 

227 

210 

203 

209 

184 

1  80 

1  66 

Township 

Sherington  J      .     . 

1,805 

671 

773 

796 

804 

856 

826 

839 

718 

604 

566 

548 

15  Embirton  includes  the  area,  and  population  1841-1901,  of  Petsoe  Manor,  which  became  a  separate  Civil  Parish 
•under  the  Extra  Parochial  Places  Acts. 

16  Lavendon,  Newton  Blossomville,  Weston  Underwood,  and  Olney  Township.  —The  increase  in  the  population  of  these 
places  in  1871  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  presence  of  men  engaged  in  railway  construction. 

v  Great  Linford. — In  the  1821  volume  four  families  are  said  to  live  here  in  turf-huts  and  to  be  engaged  in 
.cultivating  woad. 

18  Olney  Township  includes  the  area,  and  the  population  1851-1901,  of  Olney  Park  Farm,  which  became  a  separate 
Civil  Parish  under  the  Act  20  Viet.  c.  19,  having  been  previously  Extra  Parochial. 

isa  See  note  12,  ante. 

IOO 


SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    HISTORY 

TABLE  OF  POPULATION,   1801—1901  (continued) 


PARISH 

Acre- 
age 

1801 

iSn 

1821 

1831 

1841 

1831 

1  86: 

1871 

1881 

1891 

1901 

Newport 

Hundred—  (coM.) 

Simpson  J    .    .    . 

1,366 

367 

372 

395 

470 

585 

540 

562 

678 

737 

727 

73' 

Stantonbury      .     . 

806 

39 

3* 

40 

5' 

42 

27 

29 

40 

35 

29 

4' 

Stoke  Goldington  " 

2,352 

636 

617 

818 

912 

855 

902 

963 

875 

808 

767 

629 

Stoke  Hammond  J 

1,566 

268 

283 

320 

323 

407 

438 

401 

369 

365 

312 

288 

Stony  Stratford- 

55 

893 

968 

969 

',053 

1,227 

1,256 

1,356 

1,186 

i,  216 

1,100 

',395 

West  Side,  or 

St.  Giles  "  f 

Stony  Stratford- 

69 

528 

520 

530 

566 

530 

501 

649 

790 

727 

859 

958 

East  Side,  or 

St.  Mary 

Magdalen 

Tyringham  with 

',792 

236 

1  80 

204 

227 

206 

1  88 

226 

246 

199 

'55 

198 

Filgrave  J 

Walton  t       .     .     . 

772 

79 

97 

1  02 

114 

103 

95 

95 

105 

112 

93 

84 

Wavendon  t     .     • 

2,791 

635 

685 

721 

802 

846 

935 

879 

953 

971 

',384 

',659 

Weston  Under- 

1,873 

357 

339 

420 

441 

438 

405 

398 

430 

352 

325 

275 

wood  ""•  { 

Willen  t  .     .     .     . 

678 

97 

78 

83 

98 

97 

98 

80 

76 

86 

86 

9' 

Woolstone,  Great  . 

5'4 

"3 

116 

1  08 

120 

94 

72 

7i 

84 

81 

80 

45 

Woolstone,  Little  . 

631 

103 

88 

114 

124 

"5 

IO2 

125 

117 

81 

83 

85 

Wolverton    .    .    . 

2,325 

238 

258 

335 

4'7 

1,261 

2,070 

2,370 

2,804 

3,6  1  1 

4,'47 

5,323 

Woughton-on-the- 

1,224 

3" 

285 

299 

303 

354 

337 

3'4 

273 

231 

208 

202 

GreenJ 

Stoke  Hundred 

DatchetJ      .     .     . 

1,386 

357 

710 

839 

802 

922 

898 

982 

990 

1,202 

1,582 

',834 

Denham  J     .     .     . 

3,939 

796 

1,000 

1,189 

t,i69 

1,264 

1,062 

i.  068 

',234 

1,254 

1,242 

1,146 

Eton    ....  I 

[3,526 

3,666] 

Eton  College        } 

786 

2,026 

2,279 

2,475 

3,232 

83 

I3o 

3,«22 

3,261 

3,984 

2,955 

3,666 

Extra  Par.  J 

j 

Fulmer    .    .    . 

1,895 

292 

262 

340 

391 

355 

328 

35' 

412 

428 

349 

340 

Hedgerleyt.     • 

1,097 

'37 

126 

158 

187 

161 

150 

153 

'75 

132 

118 

'47 

Horton     .    .    . 

1,367 

647 

723 

796 

804 

873 

842 

810 

835 

86  1 

824 

834 

Iver     .... 

6,467 

1,377 

1,635 

i,  661 

1,870 

I  QJ8 

i  085 

2  I  14 

2  2  1O 

2  ^OQ 

2  4?6 

"   fi.i,  ) 

Langley  Marish 

3,937 

•  I  J  /  1 

1,215 

1     J  J 

',57' 

•  I*-"-*  j 

1,616 

i*-*/  ** 

1,797 

»  iy-f  vj 

1,844 

,yw  j 
1,874 

*,  •  •  *f 
1,874 

*1*  J7 

1,964 

•*»jvy:/ 

2,162 

*t*t  /  v 

2,474 

*(V^fW 

3,'67 

Stoke  Poges"  J 

3,465 

741 

838 

1,073 

1,252 

1,528 

1,501 

1,  600 

1,850 

2,150 

2,356 

3,175 

Upton-cum- 

',943 

1,018 

1,083 

1,268 

1,502 

2,296 

3,573 

4,688 

5,940 

7,030 

7,7oo 

9,406 

Chalvey  * 

Wexham  t    .     .     . 

748 

172 

178 

'54 

181 

'75 

20  1 

196 

218 

172 

231 

239 

Wyrardisbury,  or 

1,679 

616 

560 

520 

682 

672 

701 

735 

73' 

658 

660 

779 

Wraysbury  J 

Ayhsbury 

Borough 

Aylesbury  *  f    .    . 

3,302 

3,186 

3,447 

4,400 

5,021 

5,429 

6,08  1 

6,168 

6,962 

7,795 

8,680 

9,099 

Buckingham 

Borough 

Buckingham  *  .     . 

5,006 

2,605 

2,987 

3^65 

3,610 

4,054 

4,020 

3,849 

3,703 

3,585 

3,364 

3,'52 

GENERAL  NOTE  AS  TO  BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

The    following  Municipal   Boroughs  and    Urban   Districts,   were,   at    the    Census  of  1901, 
co-extensive  with  one  or  more  places  mentioned  in  the  Table  : — 

Municipal  Borough,  or  Urban  District 
Beaconsfield  U.D. 
Buckingham  M.B. 
Fenny  Stratford  U.D.     . 


Linslade  U.D. 
Newport  Pagnel  U.D. 


Place 

Beaconsfield  Parish  (Burnham  Hundred) 
Buckingham  Parish  (Buckingham  Borough) 
Bletchley  Ancient  Parish  (all  except  Water  Eaton  Township),  and 

Simpson  Parish  (both  in  Newport  Hundred) 
Linslade  Parish  (Cottesloe  Hundred) 
Newport  Pagnel  Parish  (Newport  Hundred) 


'•  Stoke  Goldington  includes  Gorefieldj,  which  was  formerly  Extra  Parochial. 

*  Stony  Stratford  Witt  Sidt.—The  population  for  1801  is  an  estimate.  «•«  See  note  16,  tntt. 

w  Stake  Pogei.—Tbo  population  for  1801  is  an  estimate. 


101 


INDUSTRIES 


INTRODUCTION 


BUCKINGHAMSHIRE  has  never 
been  a  manufacturing  county,  and 
before  the  i6th  century  there  were 
probably  no  industries  but  those 
which  supplied  the  actual  wants  of 
the  local  agricultural  population.  During  the 
last  three  centuries  the  industries  carried  on  in 
the  county,  though  on  a  small  scale,  have  been 
very  various.  The  most  interesting  are  those 
which  may  be  called  cottage  industries  :  lace, 
straw-plaiting,  and  chair-seating.  Of  these,  the 
two  latter  owe  their  origin  to  natural  products 
grown  in  the  county,  the  wheat-straw  being 
suitable  for  plaiting,  and  the  beech  woods  of  the 
Chiltern  Hills  being  famous  throughout  the  his- 
tory of  the  county.  Chair-making  is  now  per- 
haps the  most  important  manufacture,  and  is  still 
peculiarly  local  in  its  character,  although  much 
of  the  wood  used  is  not  grown  in  the  district. 
Other  trades  owe  their  prosperity  to  the  water- 
power,  arising  from  the  Thames  and  its  tribu- 
taries in  the  south  and  the  Ouse  in  the  north. 
The  chief  of  these  is  the  manufacture  of  paper, 
the  mills  being  grouped  for  the  most  part  on  the 
streams  running  into  the  Thames.  In  the 
northern  part  of  the  county  much  of  this  water- 
power  was  lost,  owing  to  the  construction  of  the 
Grand  Junction  Canal.  Other  industries  have 
existed  in  the  county  without  apparently  any 
dependence  on  natural  commodities  or  situation. 
Needle-making,  for  instance,  was  a  trade  carried 
on  for  more  than  two  centuries  at  Long 
Crendon,  where  it  was  difficult  to  procure  wire, 
and  the  manufacturers  did  not  attempt  to  utilize 
the  water  that  lay  close  at  hand.  Silk  mills  were 
opened  in  the  early  i  gth  century  with  the  defi- 
nite object  of  providing  work  for  the  unem- 
ployed, and  more  recently  branches  of  London 
printing  works  have  been  established  in  the 
•county. 

The  growth  of  the  town  of  Slough  should  be 
noticed  in  connexion  with  the  Buckinghamshire 
industries.  Originally  quite  a  small  village,  it 
seems  to  have  mainly  grown  up  since  the  build- 
ing of  the  station  on  the  Great  Western  Railway. 
Its  population  is  to  a  great  extent  industrial,  em- 
ployed in  a  great  variety  of  undertakings,  the 
chief  being  perhaps  the  brick-fields.  Until  very 


recent  years  the  means  of  communication,  how- 
ever, in  the  county  have  offered  no  incentive  to 
the  local  industries.  The  roads  as  a  whole  seem 
to  have  been  uniformly  bad  for  many  centuries. 
Each  township  or  parish  was  responsible  for  the 
roads  which  ran  through  it,  the  different  land- 
owners being  bound  to  repair  particular  pieces. 

At  the  close  of  the  I3th  century  indulgences 
were  granted  to  encourage  the  repair  of  the  roads 
in  the  county.  In  1 292,  during  the  episcopate 
of  Bishop  Sutton  l  of  Lincoln,  such  an  indulgence 
was  granted  to  those  who  were  bound  to  contri- 
bute to  the  repair  of  Walton  Street,  in  Aylesbury 
parish,  and  in  the  succeeding  years  similar  indul- 
gences* were  granted  for  the  repair  of  the  bridges 
at  Newport  Pagnell  and  Great  Marlow.  Pre- 
sentments in  the  manorial  courts  of  different 
obstructions  left  on  the  roads  were  very  frequent, 
and  it  seems  doubtful  if  the  courts  were  of  suffi- 
cient authority  to  have  much  effect,  the  same 
offence  coming  up  in  court  after  court.1  In  the 
1 6th  and  I7th  centuries  the  justices  of  the  peace 
superseded  the  lord  of  the  manor  in  this  duty, 
but  the  change  seems  to  have  had  no  effect.  In 
1634-5  the  county  was  charged  with  a  share  of 
carrying  certain  timber  from  Oxfordshire  to 
London.  In  April  the  justices  wrote  that  the 
roads  were  '  impassable,  or  at  least  so  foul  and 
unfit  for  carriages  of  weight '  that  the  loads  must 
be  very  small,  and  therefore  they  begged  that  the 
work  might  be  done  later  in  the  summer.4  In 
the  1 8th  century  a  highway  rate  could  be  levied 
on  different  parishes  by  order  of  the  justices 
under  an  Act  of  William  and  Mary  instead  of  the 
different  inhabitants  providing  labourers  for  so 
many  days.* 

The  repairs,  however,  at  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury were  carried  out  mainly  by  gangs  of  parish 
labourers,  who  were  underpaid  and  without 
supervision.  The  establishment  of  turnpike 
trusts  for  the  repair  of  the  main  roads  produced 
some  improvement,  but  of  course  the  by-roads 

1  Line.  Epii.  Reg.  Sutton  Mem.  '  Ibid. 

'  Add.  MS.  27039,  27148,  27152.     Instances  are 
frequent  throughout  the  series  of  Fawley  Court  Rolls. 
4  S.P.  Dom.  Cha».  I,  ccxv,  38. 
*  Quarter  Sessions  Rec.  East.  1718. 


103 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


were  not  affected,  and  the  frequent  collection  of 
tolls  was  often  a  heavy  tax  on  the  farmers  of  a 
district.  Thus  at  Aylesbury  there  was  no  road 
out  of  the  town  free  from  toll,  and  there  were 
no  less  than  seven  turnpike  trusts,  each  managing 
a  different  road,  with  a  different  set  of  lawyers, 
officials,  and  toll-collectors  to  be  paid.6  The 
tolls  varied  slightly  under  different  trusts,  but  in 
Buckinghamshire  and  the  neighbouring  counties 
the  usual  rates  were  as  follows  : — 7 

For  a  horse  ridden  or  led,  I  \d. 

For  a  horse  drawing  any  vehicle,  \\d. 

A  carriage  and  pair  gJ.  and  so  on. 

Cattle  lod.  a  score,  and  sheep  and  pigs  rather  less. 

In  1813,  in  a  survey  of  the  county  made  for  the 
Board  of  Agriculture,  the  state  of  the  roads  is 
heavily  condemned.  The  by-roads  naturally  were 
the  worst ;  some  were  even  dangerous,  the  ruts 
being  so  deep  that  the  surveyor  reports '  that  when 
the  wheels  of  a  chaise  fall  into  them,  it  is  with 
the  greatest  danger  an  attempt  may  be  made  to 
draw  them  out ;  nay,  instances  may  be  produced 
where,  if  such  an  attempt  is  made,  the  horse  and 
chaise  must  inevitably  fall  into  bogs.'  This 
actually  happened  on  the  road  from  Risborough 
to  Bledlow,  the  horse  of  the  surveyor  falling 
into  a  bog  up  to  his  chest.8  The  main  roads 
at  the  present  time  are  under  the  control  of 
the  County  Council.  Their  course  has  been 
dictated  from  the  earliest  times  by  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Chiltern  Hills,  the  roads  from 
London  passing  in  the  most  cases  through  the 
different  gaps  in  the  hills.  The  road  from 
London  to  Chester  passes  through  before  it 
reaches  Buckinghamshire,  which  it  enters  at 
Little  Brickhill,  and  runs  north-west,  covering 
the  course  of  Watling  Street.  The  Liverpool 
road  enters  the  county  near  Woburn  and  passes 
through  the  town  of  Newport  Pagnell,  which 
owed  its  prosperity  to  its  being  a  posting  stage 
on  this  road.  In  the  south  of  the  county  there 
are  two  roads  to  Oxford  from  London.  The  one 
follows  the  valley  of  the  Thames,  the  other 
enters  the  county  near  Uxbridge  and  passes 
through  High  Wycombe,  going  over  the  Chiltern 
Hills.  From  this  road  a  branch  road  runs  up  the 
Missenden  valley  to  Aylesbury  and  Buckingham, 
while  there  is  a  more  direct  road  to  the  former 
town  by  Tring  and  Aston  Clinton.  Other 
roads  of  course  connect  the  different  towns  and 
villages  with  one  another.  The  county  was 
better  served  by  water  communication  than  by 
road.  The  Thames  was  used  by  the  manufac- 
turers established  near  its  banks,  and  the  Ouse 
is  navigable  throughout  its  course  in  Bucking- 
hamshire. The  Grand  Junction  Canal  has  also 
supplied  a  much-needed  means  of  communication 

6  J.  K.  Fowler,  Rec.  of  Old  Times,  14. 

7  Ibid. 


for  the  towns  in  the  centre  of  the  county,  which 
were  long  without  adequate  railway  service. 
The  main  canal  passes  through  Ivinghoe,  Fenny 
Stratford,  and  Stony  Stratford,  but  is  also  con- 
nected with  the  three  towns  of  Buckingham, 
Aylesbury,  and  Wendover.  The  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment for  making  the  cuts  was  obtained  in  1794. 
This  canal  was  so  much  used  in  the  early  part  of 
the  i  gth  century  that  the  road  from  Stony  Strat- 
ford to  Newport  Pagnell,  along  which  the  com- 
modities sent  by  canal  were  distributed  in  the 
county,  was  at  many  seasons  of  the  year  abso- 
lutely impassable,  being  cut  up  by  the  heavy 
wagons.9  In  the  early  days  of  railways  the 
Buckinghamshire  landowners  offered  so  much 
opposition  to  any  scheme  that  the  county  was. 
badly  serve^  b)  railways  for  many  years.  When 
the  Londu..  and  Birmingham  Railway,  now  the 
London  and  North  -  Western,  was  surveyed 
George  Stephenson's  original  plan  was  to  bring 
the  main  line  down  via  Aylesbury  and  Amer- 
sham  to  London,  but  so  much  opposition  was 
raised  that  the  line  was  diverted  through  the 
Countess  of  Bridgewater's  land  by  Berkhamp- 
stead  and  Tring.  '  The  land,'  she  is  reported 
to  have  said  to  him,  '  is  already  gashed  by  the 
Canal,  and  if  you  take  that  course  you  will  have 
no  severance  to  pay,  it  will  disarm  opposition, 
and  the  position  of  the  locks  will  be  some  guide 
to  you  in  your  levels.' lu  Thus  the  line,  when  it 
was  opened  in  1 838,  only  passed  through  a  small 
portion  of  the  county  by  Bletchley  and  Wolver- 
ton.  Subsequently  several  branch  lines  have  been 
built,  opening  up  the  northern  part  of  the  county. 
From  Cheddington  Junction  there  is  a  line  to 
Aylesbury  ;  from  Bletchley  there  are  two  lines, 
one  by  Fenny  Stratford  to  Bedford  and  Cam- 
bridge, and  the  other  to  Oxford.  The  Banbury 
line  passes  through  Buckingham,  leaving  the 
main  line  at  Winslow,  and  another  branch  con- 
nects Wolverton  and  Newport  Pagnell.  In  the 
south  the  chief  railway  is  the  Great  Western  ;. 
the  main  line,  entering  the  county  near  Coin- 
brook  and  passing  through  Slough,  leaves  the 
county  at  Maidenhead.  It  has  branches  to- 
Eton  and  Windsor,  and  to  Oxford,  via  High 
Wycombe,  Princes  Risborough,  and  Thame. 

A  small  line  was  projected  in  1 846  by  Robert 
Stephenson,  its  object  being  to  connect  the  two 
great  lines,  the  centre  of  the  county  being  then 
practically  without  railway  communications.  Part 
of  the  scheme  was  abandoned,  and  not  till  1861 
was  the  Act  obtained  for  the  Aylesbury  and 
Buckingham  Railway.  The  project  met  with 
opposition  of  every  kind,  but  finally  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  for  the  new  line  being  worked 
by  the  Great  Western.11  Afterwards,  however, 
an  extension  was  made  bringing  the  line  from. 


St.  John  Priest,  Gen.  View  of  dgric.   of  Bucks.      125. 


9  Ibid.  342. 

10  J.  K.  Fowler,  Recollections  of  Old  Country  Lifer 


339-42- 


11  J.  K.  Fowler,  Rec.  of  Old  Times,  186. 


104 


INDUSTRIES 


Aylesbury  to  London,  the  terminus  being  at 
Baker  Street,  and  the  Aylesbury  and  Bucking- 
ham Railway  was  bought  by  the  Metropolitan 
Railway  Company.  The  line  is  known  as  the 
Metropolitan  Extension  Railway,  and  a  steam 
tramway  is  run  in  connexion  with  it  from  Quain- 
ton  Road  to  Brill.  The  Great  Central  Railway, 
since  its  extension  to  London,  also  passes 
through  the  centre  of  the  county,  entering  it 
near  Buckingham.  It  then  passes  through 
Quainton  Road  Junction,  Aylesbury,  and  on  to 
the  Marylebone  terminus.  The  Great  Western 
and  Great  Central  Joint  Committee  have  built 
a  new  line  from  Quainton  Road,  through  Princes 
Risborough  and  Wycombc,  joining  the  main 
line  near  Kingsbury-Neasden  and  so  on  to 
London. 

Several  industries  have  sprung  up  in  the 
county  for  different  reasons  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century.  Amongst  these  may  be 
classed  boat-building,  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames. 
This  trade  has  probably  occupied  a  large  number 
of  the  riverside  population  throughout  the  history 
of  the  county.  In  1831  there  were  said  to  be 
ten  boat  -  builders  and  998  boat  -  makers  or 
menders,"  but  the  trade  in  its  present  form  has 
only  developed  recently.  At  Eton  it  dated  from 
the  time  when  the  boys  at  the  college  began 
to  row — about  forty-five  years  ago."  It  is  now 
one  of  the  four  centres  in  the  country  for  the 
building  of  racing-boats.  The  industry  received 
a  further  stimulus  about  twenty  years  after 
the  introduction  of  racing  by  the  popularity  of 
pleasure-boating  on  the  river.  A  large  number 
of  the  boats  built  for  this  purpose  are  kept  on 
the  Thames  for  letting  on  hire,  the  rest  are  sold 
to  purchasers  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Re- 
cently the  demand  for  punts  has  brought  an 
increase  of  trade,  which  had  been  decreasing 
owing  to  the  popularity  of  motoring  and  other 
amusements.14  A  large  export  trade  was  at  one 
time  carried  on  by  the  boat-builders  at  Eton  to 
most  continental  countries,  but  this  has  been 
stopped  by  the  establishment  of  boat-building 
firms  in  these  countries ;  boats  are  still  sent  to 
Africa,  India,  Italy,  Portugal,  amongst  other 
places.  One  firm  has  also  extended  its  business 
by  manufacturing  oars  and  sculls,  besides  supply- 
ing the  London  County  Council  with  a  large 
number  of  mahogany  boats  for  use  in  the  Lon- 
don parks.  The  industry  now  gives  employ- 
ment to  a  considerable  number  of  men,  whose 
work  is  very  various,  the  chief  classes  being 
builders,  varnishcrs,  decorators,  upholsterers  and 
watermen.  The  wages  paid  to  first-class  hands 
are  good,  the  rate  of  wages  amongst  the  builders 
reaching  between  £3  and  £4  a  week, 

»  Pof.Rft.  1 83 1,  i,  34. 

u  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  G.  F. 
Winter,  Kton. 

"  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  G.  Raines, 
Old  Windsor  and  Wraysbury. 


Although  the  manufacture  of  paper  has  been 
one  of  the  chief  industries  of  Buckinghamshire 
for  so  many  years,  there  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  any  large  printing  works  established  until 
recently.  In  the  second  half  of  the  1 8th  cen- 
tury there  was  a  printer  at  Aylesbury,1*  and  for 
a  short  time,  in  the  year  1792,  the  Buckingham- 
ihire  Herald  was  printed  there  by  a  man  named 
Norman,  and  at  the  present  time  there  are 
printers  in  most  of  the  towns  of  the  county. 
The  Buckinghamshire  Standard  \&  printed  at  New- 
port Pagnell,  as  well  as  the  Newport  Pagnell 
Gazette.  The  South  Bucks  Standard  at  Wycombe, 
the  Buckingham  Standard  at  Buckingham,  and  the 
Bucks  Herald  at  Aylesbury,  are  all  printed  in  the 
towns  where  they  are  published.  In  the  last- 
named  town  are  large  printing  works  owned  by 
Messrs.  Hazell,  Watson  &  Vincy,  Ltd." 
The  firm  was  founded  in  London  in  1845,  but 
the  Aylesbury  works  were  not  opened  till  1867, 
when  they  were  started  as  an  experiment  in  an 
old  silk-mill,  with  the  object  of  establishing  works 
in  the  country  rather  than  in  London.  All  kinds 
of  printing  are  done  by  the  firm,  who  also  are 
book-binders,  printing-ink  makers,  printers'  roller 
makers,  &c.  A  great  many  institutions  and  clubs 
have  been  established  at  Aylesbury  for  the  em- 
ployees of  the  firm,  who  are  also  shareholders  under 
different  schemes,  the  total  value  of  the  shares 
so  held  being  between  £16,000  and  £17,000. 
There  are  numerous  coach  and  carriage  builders 
in  all  parts  of  the  county.  Their  trade  appears 
to  be  of  recent  development,  since  in  1831  only 
twenty-three  men  were  so  employed.  The 
chief  centres  are  at  Newport  Pagnell,  Great 
Marlow,  and  Slough.  At  Slough  a  large  export 
trade  is  carried  on  and  this  has  prevented  one 
firm  at  least  from  suffering  from  the  increasing 
demand  for  motor  cars.17 

Embrocation  is  made  by  two  firms  in  the 
county,  the  Line  Romanelicum  Company  at 
Newport  Pagnell  and  the  well-known  Messrs. 
Elliman  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  at  Slough. 

Brewing  was  carried  on  in  Buckinghamshire, 
as  in  the  rest  of  England,  in  nearly  every  village 
in  mediaeval  times,  and  the  industry  was  super- 
vised as  a  rule  by  the  lords  of  the  manors  or 
their  officials,  claiming  the  right  to  hold  the 
assize  of  ale.  Owing  to  the  process  then  ob- 
taining, no  large  quantities  of  beer  or  ale  were 
made,  so  that  the  business  was  carried  on  on  a 
very  small  scale.  At  High  Wycombe,  in  the 
1 6th  century,  there  were  severe  orders  against 
those  who  brewed  selling,  or  as  it  was  then 
called  '  tippling,'  their  beer  at  their  own  houses.18 
Instead  it  was  to  be  sent  into  the  town  to  be 

'•  Gibb,  Hut.  ef  Aylesbury,  628-9. 

"  After  Hours,  published  by  Messrs.  Hazell,  Watson 
&  Viney,  Ltd. 

17  Information  kindly  given  by  Messrs.  Brown  & 
Sons,  Slough. 

"  Wycombe  Borough  Records. 


105 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


sold  by  the  '  tipplers '  at  the  price  fixed  by  the 
mayor  of  the  borough.  The  more  important 
breweries,  in  the  modern  sense,  seem  to  have 
been  established  during  the  i8th  century.  At 
Great  Marlow  brewing  is  the  most  important 
industry  in  the  town,  the  chief  brewery  having 
been  established  by  the  Wethereds  in  1758. 
The  same  family  still  carries  on  the  business, 
which,  however,  was  formed  into  a  company  in 
1899.  The  brewery  now  carried  on  by  the 
Newport  Pagnell  Brewery  Co.,  Ltd.,  has  also 
been  established  for  at  least  a  hundred  years. 
There  were  also  breweries  at  Buckingham, 
Bletchley,  and  Aylesbury,  but  these  are  now  all 
in  the  hands  of  the  Aylesbury  Brewery  Co., 
Ltd. 

The  oldest  nursery  gardens  in  Buckinghamshire 
are  the  Royal  nurseries  at  Slough,  which  were 
founded  by  Mr.  Thomas  Brown  in  1774..™  In 
1848  they  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  late 
Mr.  Charles  Turner,  and  they  have  remained  in 
his  family  to  the  present  day.  The  nurseries 
have  always  been  noted  for  '  Florists'  Flowers/ 
the  chief  kinds  grown  being  carnations,  picotees, 
pinks,  roses,  auriculas,  pelargoniums,  dahlias,  etc. 

Roses  grown  at  Slough  were  specially  famous, 
and  Dean  Hole  described  Mr.  Charles  Turner 
as  '  the  king  of  florists.' "  At  the  present  day 
the  gardens  cover  about  150  acres  of  ground. 
In  the  same  neighbourhood  Messrs.  Veitch  & 
Sons,  of  Chelsea,  have  opened  nurseries  at 
Langley  Marish.  In  1880,  20  acres  of  land  were 


purchased,  and  more  has  been  added  till  the 
nursery  includes  about  sixty  acres  in  all.  The 
principal  culture  is  that  of  fruit  trees,  roses,  and 
herbaceous  plants,  but  flower  and  vegetable  seeds 
are  also  grown  there.  The  nursery  is  particu- 
larly noted  for  its  pears  and  apples.  There  are 
various  nurseries  in  different  parts  of  the  county, 
which  have  been  developed  of  late  years  and  have 
profited  by  the  new  lines  of  railway.  Of  these, 
the  nursery  near  Claydon  was  started  about  four- 
teen years  ago  '  to  develop  a  local  trade  for  small 
orders  for  ready  money.'21  Tomatoes,  bedding 
plants,  and  chrysanthemums  are  grown  in  large 
quantities,  and  cut  flowers  are  also  supplied. 
Fruit  of  all  kinds  is  grown,  and  some  twelve 
years  ago  a  Fruit  Growers'  Association  was 
formed,  so  that  customers  living  near  could 
obtain  the  best  variety  of  fruit  trees  at  wholesale 
prices.  To  encourage  fruit-growing  amongst 
the  tenants  of  Sir  Edmund  Verney,  bart.,  on 
whose  estate  the  Claydon  Nurseries  are  situ- 
ated, compensation  for  disturbance  is  given  to 
the  cottagers  and  others  who  have  purchased 
fruit  trees  through  the  Association  and  have  left 
their  cottages  within  six  years  after  planting. 
Various  other  branches  of  work  have  also  been 
undertaken,  such  as  fruit-preserving,  bee-keeping, 
and  wood-growing.  The  Claydon  Nurseries 
Company  is  co-operative  so  far  as  the  horticul- 
tural department  is  concerned,  the  profits  being 
annually  divided  amongst  the  permanent  em- 
ployees of  that  branch  of  the  work. 


LACE-MAKING 


Lace-making  for  a  very  long  period  formed 
the  most  important  industry  of  Buckinghamshire. 
There  seems  some  doubt  as  to  its  origin  in  the 
county,  but  tradition  attributes  it  to  Queen  Ka- 
therine  of  Aragon,  who  besides  holding  several 
manors  in  Buckinghamshire  as  part  of  her  dower, 
also  lived  for  two  years  at  Ampthill  in  the  neigh- 
bouring county  of  Bedford.1  Thread-lace  was 
made  in  England  as  early  as  1463^ and  bone-lace, 
the  original  name  for  pillow-lace,  is  mentioned 
in  1577.*  The  type  of  lace  made  in  England  at 
this  time  was  Flemish,  and  may  have  been  first 
brought  to  England  by  refugees  from  Flanders. 
Pennant  *  speaks  '  of  the  lace-manufacture  which 
we  stole  from  the  Flemings,'  but  Queen  Kather- 
ine  may  still,  in  the  first  instance,  have  brought 

19  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  Charles 
Turner,  The  Royal  Nurseries,  Slough. 

"  Memoirs  of  Dean  Hole  (1893),  207. 

"  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  J.  Milsom, 
Claydon  Nurseries. 

1  L.  and  P.  Hen.  Fill,  vi,  66 1. 

1  Par!.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  507^. 

'  New  Engl.  Diet, 

4  Journey  from  Chester  to  Land.  342. 


the  industry  to  Buckinghamshire.  It  seems  to 
have  been  flourishing  by  the  beginning  of  the 
I7th  century,  since  in  1611  men  'who  continu- 
allie  travelled  to  sell  bone-lace  on  the  Sabbath 
day  '  were  presented  at  an  ecclesiastical  visitation.5 
A  time  of  depression,  however,  followed,  prob- 
ably owing  to  the  monopolies  granted  by 
James  I.  In  High  Wycombe  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood there  was  a  great  deal  of  distress  in 
1623  mainly  due  to  lack  of  employment,  since 
both  the  clothing  and  bone-lace  trades  were 
daily  becoming  more  depressed.6  This  depres- 
sion was,  however,  merely  temporary.  Three 
years  later,  in  the  neighbouring  town  of  Great 
Marlow,  Sir  Henry  Borlase  founded  a  school  for 
twenty-four  boys  and  twenty-four  girls,  and 
the  latter  were  to  learn  to  knit,  spin,  and  make 
bone-lace.  The  chief  centres  of  the  lace  indus- 
try were  Newport  Pagnell,  or  Olney,  High 
Wycombe,  and  Aylesbury.  Fuller,  in  1660,' 
specially  mentions  Olney,  but  the  industry  was 
already  widely  spread  in  the  county.  A  few 

6  F.  W.  Bull,  Hist,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  17. 

6  S.P.  Dom.  Jns.  I,  cxlii,  44. 

'  Worthies  of  Engl.  (NuttalFs  ed.),  193. 


106 


INDUSTRIES 


years  later  Sir  Edmund  Verncy,8  at  Claydon, 
writes  that  one  of  his  men  had  given  him  some 
very  good  lace  made  by  his  daughter.  She  re- 
ceived a  guinea,  and  the  lace  was  made  into  a 
cravat  of  the  latest  fashion. 

The  greatest  time  of  prosperity  in  the  indus- 
try came,  however,  in  the  i8th  century,  when 
bone-lace  was  in  great  demand.  The  Spectator, 
when  deploring  the  extravagance  of  women  in 
their  head-dresses,'  speaks  of  '  childish  Gewgaws, 
Ribbands  and  bone-lace.'  In  1717  the  lace- 
makers  on  a  large  scale,  living  at  Wycombe  and 
in  that  neighbourhood,  petitioned  against  a  de- 
cision which  forced  them  to  take  out  licences  as 
petty  chapmen  or  hawkers.10  One  of  the  chief 
of  these  lace-makers  was  Ferdinando  Shrimpton 
of  Penn,  who  was  eight  times  Mayor  of  Chep- 
ping  Wycombe.11  He  and  other  men  of  his 
class  kept  several  hundred  workers  constantly 
employed.11  They  went  weekly  to  London, 
generally  on  a  Monday,  and  sold  their  goods  to 
the  London  milliners  at  the  lace  markets  held  at 
the  George  Inn,  Aldersgate  Street,  or  in  the  Bull 
and  Mouth  Inn  in  St.  Martin's  by  Aldersgate. 
They  returned  with  a  stock  of  thread  and  silk, 
which  they  gave  out  to  their  workwomen  to  be 
made  up  according  to  their  orders.13  In  the 
northern  part  of  the  county  Newport  Pagnell 
was  a  sort  of  staple  town  for  bone-lace,14  and  it 
was  said  to  produce  more  lace  than  any  other 
town  in  the  country.18  A  lace-market  was  held 
every  Wednesday  at  which  great  quantities  were 
sold.  Lace-buyers  also  came  round  from  the 
London  houses  about  once  a  month,  meeting  the 
lace-makers  at  some  inn,  such  as  the  '  Nagg's 
Head  '  at  Thame,  and  there  buying  their  stock.18 

The  Anti-Gallican  Society  some  years  before 
had  awarded  its  first  prize  for  lace  shown  by 
Mr.  William  Marriott,  of  Newport  Pagnell,17 
and  in  1761  Earl  Temple,  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Buckinghamshire,  presented  the  king,  on 
behalf  of  the  lace-makers,  with  a  pair  of  fine 
lace  ruffles,  made  at  the  same  town.18 

Aylesbury  was  also  noted  for  the  fine  quality 
of  the  lace  made  there.1*  In  the  i8th  century 
the  women  in  the  workhouse  were  employed  in 
lace-making  instead  of  spinning.*0  In  1784  the 
overseers  entered  two  cloths  for  lace-pillows  in 
their  accounts  ; "  in  the  same  year  they  paid  \d. 

'  Memoirs  of  tht  ferney  Family,  iv,  2 1  3. 

'  The  Spectator,  no.  98. 

"  Treasury  Papers,  ccviii,  47. 

"  Langley,  Hist,  of  the  Hun,/,  of  Deshorough. 

"  Treainry  Papers,  ccviii,  47. 

11  Pinnock,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Engl.  i,  3 1 . 

"  Defoe,  Tour  through  Great  Britain  (1778),  ii,  173. 

11  Bull,  Hilt,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  17. 

"  W.  Shrimpton,  Notes  on  a  decayed  Needle-land,  25. 

"  Mrs.  Bury  Palliscr,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  380. 

"  Ibid. 

"  Defoe,  Tour  through  Great  Britain  (1778),  ii,  173. 

10  Aylesbury  Overseers'  Accounts.  "  Ibid. 


to  '  four  girls  cutting  off,'  and  on  another  occasion 
Mary  Slade  received  31.  yd.  to  set  up  lace- 
making.**  Lace  played  a  prominent  part  also 
in  the  Parliamentary  elections  for  the  borough.13 
No  candidate  could  hope  to  be  successful  if  he 
did  not  promise  to  uphold  the  bone-lace  in- 
dustry and  denounce  the  machine-made  lace  of 
Nottingham.  A  lace-pillow  was  mounted  on  a 
pole  and  carried  at  the  head  of  processions,  and 
banners  were  hung  with  Aylesbury  lace,  for 
which  enormous  prices  were  paid. 

The  lace  trade  flourished  in  the  early  part  of  the 
1 9th  century,  and  its  extent  is  well  illustrated  by 
the  village  of  Hanslope.**  In  1801,  500  people 
out  of  a  population  of  1,275  were  employed  in 
lace-making,  and  both  men  and  women  made  it 
their  regular  employment.  No  women's  labour 
for  agricultural  work  could  be  obtained  in  the 
county  **  owing  to  the  good  wages  they  were 
paid  for  lace-making. 

The  decline  came  very  quickly  after  the  close 
of  the  French  wars.  The  introduction  of 
machine-made  lace  about  1835  **  and  the  effects 
of  free  trade  gradually  killed  the  industry."  The 
quality  of  the  lace  made  fell  off,  and  in  spite  of 
temporary  revivals  the  trade  proper  became  ex- 
tinct about  I884.*8  The  industry,  however, 
lingered  on  in  many  parts  of  the  county,  and  of 
late  years  a  great  effort  has  been  made  to  bring 
about  a  revival.  The  North  Bucks  Lace 
Association  was  formed  in  1897,  and  is  the 
largest  association  of  the  kind.  It  aims  not  only 
at  reviving  old  patterns  and  improving  the  quality 
of  the  lace  made,  but  also  at  securing  a  better 
price  than  the  workers  can  obtain  for  themselves. 
In  other  parts  of  the  county  various  people  have 
interested  themselves  in  the  industry,  and  very 
beautiful  lace  is  now  made,  such  as  the  lace  in 
Hughenden  Church. 

In  the  south  of  the  county  other  trades, 
especially  chair-making,  afford  both  an  easier  and 
at  the  same  time  a  better  paid  occupation  for 
the  women,  so  that  there  is  less  lace-making  than 
round  Buckingham  and  Newport  Pagnell. 

Another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  revival  of 
the  industry  is  the  length  of  time  taken  in  learn- 
ing to  make  lace.  It  seems  probable  that  after 
the  present  generation  of  workers  has  passed 
away  no  fine,  wide  lace  will  be  made  any  more 
with  the  object  of  earning  a  livelihood.  Chil- 
dren, in  order  to  become  expert  workers,  must 
begin  very  young  and  work  more  hours  a  day 
than  is  possible  whilst  they  are  attending  school. 

In  the  flourishing  days  of  the  industry  there 
were  hardly  any  schools  except  lace-schools  in 

"  Ibid.  "  Gibbs,  Hut.  of  Ajksburj,  62  I . 

**  Lysons,  Magna  Brit,  i,  482. 

"  St.  John    Prie»t,  Gen.  Clew  of  Agric.  of  Burks. 

346. 

"  Bull,  Hist,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  196. 
"  Palliser,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  393. 
"  Bull,  Hist,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  196. 


107 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


the  county.  Sir  William  Borlase's  school  at 
Great  Marlow  was  not  continued  long,  but  in 
1672  the  Aylesbury  overseers  paid  Mary  Sutton 
5*.  to  teach  the  workhouse  children  to  make 
lace.29  At  Hanslope  children  were  sent  to  the 
lace-schools  when  they  were  five  years  old,30  and 
both  boys  and  girls  could  maintain  themselves  by 
the  time  they  were  eleven  or  twelve.  The  hours 
were  very  long,  and  schools  were  held  in  small 
cottages  without  sufficient  light  or  ventilation. 
In  some  parts  of  the  county  the  children  were 
sent  to  the  lace-schools  at  four  years  old.  The 
old  woman  who  kept  the  principal  lace  school  at 
Lane  End  died  about  a  year  ago  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six.  The  schools  must  have  disappeared 
about  thirty  to  thirty-five  years  ago,  but  the 
children  then  seem  to  have  had  first  about  an 
hour's  reading  lesson,  followed  by  six  to  seven 
hours'  lace-making.31  Besides  the  children,  the 
skilled  workers  were  crowded  in  large  numbers 
into  a  small  room,  with  the  result  that  the  in- 
dustry was  most  unhealthy.  As  early  as  ijSz31 
Pennant  noticed  the  pale  faces  of  the  girls  at 
Newport  Pagnell,  due  to  their  sedentary  trade, 
and  three  years  later  a  writer  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  33  suggested  remedies  for.  this  state  of 
things.  In  the  course  of  a  journey  in  Bucking- 
hamshire and  Northamptonshire  his  attention 
was  drawn  to  '  the  frequent  sight  of  deformed  and 
diseased  women  in  these  counties.'  He  found 
they  were  mostly  lace-makers,  growing  deformed 
and  ill  from  the  stooping  position  in  which  they 
worked  and  from  sitting  in  '  small,  low  and  close ' 
rooms.  His  recommendations  probably  had  no 
effect,  and  in  1797  lace-making  in  the  towns  of 
the  hundred  of  Desborough  did  not  '  induce 
those  habits  of  neatness  and  industry  which 
appear  highly  necessary  to  render  an  occupation 
beneficial  to  a  county." 34 

The  kind  of  lace  made  in  Buckinghamshire 
has  passed  through  many  variations,  but  it  has 
always  been  pillow-lace  of  one  kind  or  another, 
the  most  characteristic  lace  being  pillow-point,  or 
'  half-stitch  '  as  it  is  called  in  the  county.38  The 
earliest  Buckinghamshire  lace  was  old  Flemish 
with  a  wavy  and  graceful  pattern  and  well- 
executed  ground.  Some  of  the  patterns  seem  to 
have  been  worked  in  with  a  needle  on  the  net 
ground.  In  1778  point-ground  was  introduced, 
and  from  that  time  the  staple  pillow-lace  of  the 
county  developed.  Much  of  the  point-ground 
was  made  by  men.  The  principal  branch  of  the 

89  Aylesbury  Overseers'  Accounts,  quoted  in  Gibbs, 
Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  6 1 7. 

30  Lysons,  Magna  Brit,  i,  482. 

"  Information  kindly  given  by  Miss  E.  Johnson, 
Lane  End,  nr.  High  Wycombe. 

ij  'Journey  from  Chester  to  Land.  342. 

33  Vol.  Iv,  938. 

"  Thomas  Langley,  Hist,  of  Hund.  of  Desborough, 
10. 

36  Palliser,  Hist. of  Lace  (1902),  384. 


trade  was  '  baby  lace '  and  edgings,  mostly  used 
in  trimming  babies'  caps.36  Point-ground  was 
used,  while  the  patterns  were  copied  from  Lille 
or  Mechlin  lace.37  Large  quantities  were  ex- 
ported to  the  United  States  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  when  the  demand  ceased  rapidly.38 
Other  sorts  of  grounds  were  made,  such  as 
'wire,'  'double,'  and  '  trolly.'38  Fresh  kinds  of 
lace  were  introduced  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
French  War  at  the  close  of  the  i8th  century. 
Manufacturers  undertook  to  supply  French  laces, 
and  both  true  Valenciennes  lace  and  '  French 
ground'  were  then  made  in  Buckinghamshire.40 
Early  in  the  igth  century  Regency  Point  came 
into  fashion,  a  point  lace  with  cloth  or  toile 
on  the  edge.  Insertions  were  also  introduced, 
and  made  in  large  quantities.  A  lace  made  of 
worsted  of  various  colours,  called  Norman  lace, 
suddenly  became  fashionable, 41  and  the  demand 
was  great,  especially  in  the  United  States.  The 
trade  dropped,  however,  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
arisen.  In  the  middle  of  the  igth  century 
Maltese  lace  was  introduced,  resulting  in  a  great 
recovery  in  the  industry.42  It  was  made  both 
of  thread  and  silk,43  and  completely  ousted  the 
older  Buckinghamshire  lace,  which  could  no 
longer  compete  with  the  machine-made  article. 
At  the  Exhibition  of  1862  hardly  anything  but 
Maltese  lace  was  exhibited,  but  a  fresh  impulse 
was  given  to  the  trade.44  New  kinds  of  Maltese 
lace  were  introduced  called  '  plaited  laces,'  but 
this  revival  of  lace-making  came  to  an  end 
about  1870,  the  quality  of  the  lace  having  be- 
come worse  and  worse,  both  as  to  pattern  and 
material.4*  The  last  variety  of  lace  appeared 
about  1875,  and  was  called  Yac  lace.  It  was 
made  from  a  species  of  goat's  hair  dyed  to  all 
colours,  but  the  fashion  died  out  very  quickly.46 
Maltese  lace-making  lingered  on  in  the 
different  villages,  and  is  still  made,  but  the 
North  Bucks  Lace  Association  and  kindred 
societies  encourage  the  older  and  more  charac- 
teristic '  Buckinghamshire  lace.'  Old  stores  of 
lace  have  been  sought  out  and  the  patterns 
revived.  A  good  deal  of  jealousy  used  to  exist 
with  regard  to  the  copying  of  patterns,  and  the 
same  feeling  has  again  appeared  of  late  years. 
The  pattern  is  pricked  on  a  strip  of  parchment 
and  pinned  down  to  the  pillow.  It  is  about  ten 
inches  long,47  and  in  Buckinghamshire  the  custom 

36  Defoe,    Complete   English    Tradesman    (1738),  ii, 

347- 

"  Palliser,  Hist,  of  Lace,  385. 

88  Ibid.  386.  "  Ibid.  387. 

40  Ibid.  388. 

41  Bull,  Hist,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  1 96. 
41  Ibid. 

43  Palliser,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  392. 

44  Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  622. 

45  Palliser,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  392. 

46  Bull,  Hist,  of  Newport  Pagnell,  196. 

47  Palliser,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  391. 


1 08 


INDUSTRIES 


is  to  have  two  of  these  strips,  and  as  one  is 
finished  the  other  is  placed  below  it,  the  lace- 
maker  thus  working  round  and  round  the  pil- 
low. The  lace  is  made  of  linen  thread,  and  at 
the  present  day  there  is  considerable  difficulty 
in  procuring  it  fine  enough  and  even  enough.4* 
This  was  probably  a  difficulty  in  earlier  times, 
and  silk  was  used  many  years  before  Maltese  lace 
was  introduced.4*  Amersham  and  Great  Marlow 
were  specially  noted  for  the  black  silk  lace  made 
there.*0  The  bobbins  were  originally  made  of 
bone — hence  the  name  bone-lace ;  but  more 
frequently  they  are  of  wood.11  The  number 
used  varies  according  to  the  design,  but  for  a 
wide  pattern  as  many  as  500  may  be  needed. 
Old  bobbins  often  show  an  interesting  history 
of  their  owner,  since  it  was  the  custom  to 
inscribe  them  with  names  and  the  dates  of 
various  events  occurring  in  her  life.  Forty 
years  ago  it  was  still  the  custom  to  give  bobbins, 
often  of  intricate  workmanship,  as  love-tokens." 
The  pillow  was,  however,  the  costliest  part  of  a 
lace-maker's  implements.  It  is  a  hard  round 
cushion,  stuffed  with  straw  and  well-hammered 
to  make  it  hard,  and  covered  with  '  pillow-cloth.' w 
The  making  of  pillows  was  almost  a  monopoly, 
one  family  making  them  for  a  district.*4  A 
pillow  with  all  its  appurtenances  in  some  cases 
cost  as  much  as  ^5  in  the  early  part  of  the 
igth  century.  In  the  prosperous  days  of  the 
industry  women  could  earn  very  good  wages, 
often  making  more  than  their  husbands,  who 
were  agricultural  labourers.  In  1794  the 
average  wages  of  the  best  lace  hands  were  from 
ii.  to  u.  6d.  a  day,'*  but  about  the  same  time 
in  the  Thames  Valley  women  only  earned  lod. 
a  day  and  girls  about  \d.  and  6d.M  In  1813 
the  wages  given  were  rather  lower,  <)d.  to  is. 


a  day,  but  good  workers  at  Aylesbury,  before 
machine-made  lace  killed  the  trade,  could  earn 
25J.18  a  week,  and  married  women  who  did  not 
give  their  whole  time  to  the  work  often  made 
as  much  as  £i  a  week.  The  workers  were 
sometimes,  however,  only  paid  once  a  month, 
after  the  lace-buyers  had  come  round  and  the 
local  lace-men  had  sold  their  store  of  lace.** 

At  the  present  day  the  lace-makers  are  paid 
by  the  hour,  and  the  wages  are  not  high,  vary- 
ing from  i^d.  to  i^d.  per  hour.*0 

Many  old  customs  existed  amongst  the  lace- 
makers.  St.  Catherine  was  their  patron  saint, 
and  her  festival  was  kept  as  a  holiday  till 
recent  years.*1  The  Aylesbury  Overseers*' 
even  gave  the  lace-makers  in  the  workhouse 
'  3».  to  keep  Catern,'  and  special  Catern  cakes 
were  made  to  celebrate  the  holiday. 

At  Aylesbury  a  lace-queen  was  chosen  from 
among  the  lace-makers  and  carried  round  the 
town  on  a  platform,  working  on  her  pillow,  and 
accompanied  by  a  band  and  a  great  crowd.** 
Whether  these  processions  were  held  on  St. 
Catherine's  Day  is  not  clear,  but  more  prob- 
ably they  took  place  during  fairs,  since  the 
time  of  year  commanded  indoor  celebrations  of 
the  lace-makers'  holiday  rather  than  street  pro- 
cessions. 

In  some  parts  of  the  county  the  women,  who 
have  lost  their  employment  owing  to  the  decline 
of  the  lace  trade,  have  taken  to  sequin  and  bead 
work.  This  is  the  case  round  Princes  Ris- 
borough,  particularly  at  Lacey  Green,  Amer- 
sham, and  near  High  Wycombe.64  At  Lacey 
Green  bead-work  has  been  done  about  twenty- 
five  years,  and  was  sent  to  London,  but  the 
demand  is  lessening,  and  only  an  occasional 
order  is  now  received. 


WOODEN    WARE    AND    CHAIR-MAKING 


The  beechwoods  of  the  Chiltcrn  districts 
have  naturally  led  to  the  manufacture  of  wooden 
ware  for  many  years.  Presumably  the  1 3th- 
century  names,  Hubert  Turnator,  Peter  le 
Turnur,  and  Bartholomew  le  Turnur,  specify 
the  trade  carried  on  by  their  bearers,  a  trade 
which  afterwards  obtained  a  considerable  im- 

u  Pamphltt  of  the  North  Bucks.  Lace  Aisoc.  7. 

*  Aylesbury,  Overseers'  Accounts,  1 787. 

**  Pinnock,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Engl.  i,  25,  52. 

"  Pamphlet  of  the  North  Bucks.  Lace  Assot.  9. 

"Ibid. 

"  Palli«er,  Hist,  of  Lace  (1902),  391. 

M  Gibbs,  Hist,  ofAylesbury,  617. 

"  W.  James  and  J.  Malcolm,  Gen.  View  of  Agric. 
•fBucki. 

14  Arthur  Young,  Six  Months'  Tour,  iii,  356. 

"  St.  John  Priest,  Gen.  Yievi  of  Agric.  in  Bucks. 
3|6. 


portance,  and  was  and  is  specially  centred  at 
Chesham.1  In  1725  Defoe1  mentions  the 
supply  of  beechwood  which  was  then  used  for 
making  felloes  for  '  the  great  cars  of  London, 
cole-carts,  dust-carts,  &c.,  which  the  city  laws 
do  not  allow  to  have  tyres  of  iron,'  for  the 
billet  wood  for  the  king's  palaces  and  similar 
purposes,  and  lastly  for  chairs  and  turnery  ware. 

*•  Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  621. 

**  Shrimpton,  Notes  on  a  Decayed  Needle-land. 

M  Information  kindly  given  by  Miss  E.  Johnson. 

*  M  em.  of  the  Perney  Family,  i,  1 1 . 

"  Overseen'  Accts.  1 797. 

0  Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  621. 

64  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mrs.  Robson, 
Lacey  Green  Vicarage,  and  Miss  Tighe,  Looseley 
House,  Princes  Risborough. 

1  llund.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  «,  35,  36. 
'  Tour  in  Gt.  Brit.  (1725),  ii,  7*. 


109 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


At  the  close  of  the  i8th  century  the  value  of 
the  woods  had  considerably  increased,  frequent 
felling  having  been  found  more  advantageous  to 
the  owners  than  allowing  the  trees  to  come  to  a 
considerable  size.3  Even  then,  however,  the 
wisdom  of  carrying  this  new  system  too  far  was 
doubted.  The  uses  to  which  the  wood  was  put 
were  much  the  same  as  in  Defoe's  time — spokes, 
felloes,  bedsteads,  and  chairs.4  Chesham  be- 
came noted  for  its  turnery  ware  early  in  the 
following  century,  but  in  1862  its  wooden  ware 
and  turnery  trade  was  declining.'  There  are, 
however,  a  considerable  number  of  manufac- 
turers still  carrying  on  the  trade  in  the  town 
and  neighbourhood,  wooden  dairy  utensils  being 
a  speciality  of  some  makers.  Several  firms  also 
make  brushes  of  various  kinds.  Chair-making, 
though  possibly  of  later  development  than  the 
wooden-ware  manufactory,  has  outstepped  it  in 
importance.  Both  Defoe  and  Langley  mention 
chair-making  as  one  of  the  uses  to  which  the 
beechwoods  on  the  Chilterns  were  put,  but  the 
industry  does  not  seem  to  have  become  of  great 
importance  until  the  igth  century.6  In  1830 
there  were  said  to  be  only  two  chair  manu- 
facturers in  High  Wycombe,7  which  has  since 
become  the  centre  of  the  industry.  In  1862 
one  of  the  chief  manufacturers  of  the  town 
described  the  early  condition  of  the  business  in 
the  following  words8: — 'When  I  began  the 
trade  ...  I  loaded  a  cart  and  travelled  to 
Luton.  All  there  was  prosperous.  There  was 
a  scramble  for  my  chairs  ;  when  I  came  home 
I  laid  my  receipts  on  my  table,  and  said  to  my 
wife  :  "  You  never  saw  so  much  money  before."  ' 
The  demand  for  chairs  grew  rapidly,  and  the 
Wycombe  chair-makers  supplied  the  chairs  for 
the  Crystal  Palace,  for  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  and 
many  barracks,9  and  a  large  export  trade,  espe- 
cially to  the  Colonies,  was  developed  in  the 
middle  of  the  igth  century.10  It  was  then  the 
boast  of  Wycombe  that  it  turned  out  a  chair  a 
minute  all  the  year  round,  or  1,800  doz.  per 
week,11  that  is,  over  1,100,000  per  annum. 

In  1885  there  were  about  fifty  chair-makers, 
large  and  small,  in  Wycombe,12  and  at  the  present 
day  the  number  has  reached  nearly  a  hundred. 
The  trade  has,  however,  suffered  a  depression  of 
late  years,  owing  to  the  loss  of  some  of  the 
foreign  trade,  which  has  passed  into  American 

s  Langley,  Hist,  of  the  Hund.  of  Desborough,  9. 

4  Ibid. 

6  Pinnock,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Engl.  i,  24  ;  Lips- 
comb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iii,  263  ;  Sheahan,  Topog.  of 
Bucks.  838. 

6  Tour  in  Gt.  Brit,  ii,  72  ;  Hist,  of  Hund.  of 
Desborough,  9. 

'  Factory  and  Workshops  Rep.  xv,  185. 


8  Sheahan,  Topog.  of  Bucks.  220. 


Ibid. 


Ibid. 


11  Factory  and  Workshops  Rep.  xv,  185. 
»  Ibid. 


and  Austrian  hands,  and  the  competition  at  home 
is  so  severe  that  some  of  the  work  done  is  unre- 
munerative.13  Nevertheless  nearly  every  village 
round  Wycombe  has  its  manufactory,  employing 
both  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls.14 

The  falls  of  timber  take  place  in  November 
and  March,  when  the  trees  are  sold  by  auction, 
and  the  manufacturers  lay  in  their  stock  of  wood.16 
Beech  wood  forms  the  greater  part  of  the  raw 
material,  but  elm  is  used  for  the  seats,  and  ash 
for  the  bows  of  Windsor  and  similar  chairs. 
Oak  and  walnut  are  only  as  a  rule  procured  for 
special  orders.16 

The  manufacturers  in  1885  were  divided 
into  three  classes,  which  still  obtain  at  the  present 
day.  In  the  first  place  there  are  those  who  have 
their  own  steam  saw-mills,  and  turn  out  the 
finished  article  ;  then  come  manufacturers  who 
send  their  wood  to  public  saw-mills  to  be  cut  up 
into  lengths,  and  afterwards  turn  out  the  chair 
complete  ;  and  lastly,  there  are  smaller  men 
who  live  in  the  surrounding  villages  and  supply 
the  manufacturer  proper  with  what  is  called 
'  turned  stuff,'  i.e.,  with  fore-legs,  stretchers, 
and  lists  of  chairs  according  to  pattern.  Thus 
it  often  happens  that  only  the  backs,  hind-legs, 
and  seats  are  made  at  the  factory  proper,  other 
parts  being  sent  in  from  the  country.  There 
much  of  the  work  is  done  in  the  cottages,  the 
wood  being  turned  by  hand,  after  it  has  come, 
cut  up  in  lengths,  from  the  saw-mill. 

Certain  factories  in  High  Wycombe  specialize 
in  a  particular  part  of  the  chair,  and  turn  out 
nothing  but  chair-backs,  or  seats.  The  seats  are 
made  by  women  and  girls,  who  learn  the  trade 
at  an  early  age.  When  the  work  is  done  at 
home,  they  can  earn  about  ijrf.  an  hour  for 
caning,  and  rather  more  for  '  matting,'  a  dirtier 
and  harder  process.17  The  greater  number  of 
chairs  made  in  this  district  are,  however,  seated 
with  cane,  not  rushes,  and  the  splitting  is  all 
done  by  hand.  All  kinds  of  chairs  are  made, 
from  the  common  kinds  known  as  Windsor, 
cathedral,  bedroom,  kitchen,  barrack  chairs,  to 
the  more  elaborate  patterns  made  by  the  larger 
manufacturers  of  High  Wycombe.  The  oak 
chairs,  for  instance,  made  for  the  judges  at  the 
Royal  Courts  of  Justice  were  manufactured  at 
Wycombe,  and,  more  recently,  the  mahogany 
chairs  used  by  the  peers  and  peeresses  at  the 
coronation  of  King  Edward  VII.18 

Besides  the  actual  chair-makers  there  are 
several  firms  who  make  articles  used  in  the  manu- 
facture, such  as  varnish  and  chair-makers'  tools. 

13  Ibid. 

14  Information   given    by   Miss   E.  Johnson,  Lane 
End. 

15  Factory  and  Workshops  Rep.  xv,  185. 
"  Ibid. 

17  Information  given  by  Miss  Johnson,  Lane  End. 

18  Copies  or  examples  shown  at  an  exhibition  held 
at  Aylesbury,  July  1905. 


IIO 


INDUSTRIES 


PAPER-MAKING 


Various  causes  have  made  paper-making  a 
profitable  undertaking  in  Buckinghamshire.  Espe- 
cially in  the  Thames  Valley,  the  water-power  ob- 
tained from  the  tributaries  of  the  river,  the  easy 
means  of  communication  by  water,  and  the  nearness 
to  London,  all  favoured  its  manufacture,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  paper-mills  had 
already  been  established.  John  Spilman,  the 
queen's  jeweller,  obtained  a  licence  that  he  himself, 
or  his  deputies,  should  alone  build  any  paper-mills 
or  collect  linen  rags  in  the  country,1  but  by 
1600  other  mills  had  been  erected,  and  he  peti- 
tioned for  assistance  against  the  paper  manufac- 
turers. John  Turner,  Edward  Marshall,  and 
George  Friend,  had  built  a  mill  in  Buckingham- 
shire, but  its  exact  position  is  not  mentioned  in 
Spilman's  petition.  Other  mills  must  have  been 
built  very  quickly  in  spite  of  his  licence.  In 
1636  there  were  twelve  paper-mills  in  the 
county,1  one  of  the  most  important  being  at 
Horton,  worked  by  Edmund  Phipps.  He  waschief 
constable  of  the  county,  and  seems  to  have  worked 
his  mill  with  but  little  consideration  for  the  conve- 
nience of  his  neighbours.  In  fact  the  paper-mills 
seem  to  have  been  thoroughly  unpopular  in  the 
country,  owing  to  the  importation  of  rags,  and  the 
consequent  outbreaks  of  the  plague.  Phipps  was 
presented  at  an  ecclesiastical  court  in  1635  for 
working  his  mill  on  Sunday  all  through  the 
year.1  The  next  year  the  mills  were  stopped 
owing  to  the  prevalence  of  the  plague,  and  the 
paper-masters  petitioned  for  a  contribution  from 
the  county  towards  their  relief.  This  made 
them  even  more  unpopular  than  before,  and  the 
justices  of  the  peace  made  a  counter  petition, 
not  only  against  the  rate,  but  for  the  destruction 
of  the  mills  altogether.  Some  of  these  mills 
were  already  built  at  High  Wycombe,4  or  near 
the  town,  and  this  district  became  the  centre  of 
the  paper-making  industry  in  Buckinghamshire. 
At  Horton,  Richard  West  had  succeeded  Phipps 
as  paper-maker  by  1649.' 

At  the  close  of  the  I7th  century*  a  bill  was 
brought  into  Parliament  for  the  formation  of  a 
company  with  the  monopoly  of  making  white 
writing  and  printing  paper.  Whilst  it  was 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  the  mayor,  alder- 
men and  inhabitants  of  Chopping  Wycombe 
petitioned  against  the  formation  of  such  a  com- 
pany, which  would  ruin  their  trade.  There 
were  then,  in  1690,  eight  paper-mills  at  High 
Wycombe  ;  probably  they  were  not  all  within 

1  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  cclxxvi,  6. 
'  Ibid.  Chas.  I,  cccxliv,  40. 
1  Ibid,  ccxcvi,  17. 
4  Ibid,  ccccviii,  148. 

•  Gyll,  Hitt.  ofWrajtburj,  98. 

*  Hitt.  MSS.  Com.  Rep.  xiii,  App.  pt.  v,  74. 


the  borough  itself,  but  were  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  fifty  families  were  employed  in 
making  paper.  The  men  had  mostly  been 
apprenticed  to  the  trade,  and  if  the  prohibition 
against  making  white  paper  became  law,  they 
would  come,  for  the  most  part,  with  their 
families  on  the  rates.  The  Wycombe  mills 
were  worked  by  water  from  the  River  Wye, 
but  other  mills  were  established  on  the  Loddon, 
which  runs  into  the  Thames  between  Wycombe 
and  Great  Marlow.7 

In  the  1 8th  century  paper-making  was  the 
most  important  industry  in  the  county,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  lace.8  In  1797  Thomas 
Langley  wrote  : — 'The  paper  manufacture  is  very 
flourishing  and  has  experienced  every  attention 
its  importance  so  highly  deserves.'  *  The  paper- 
mills  at  Horton  and  Wyrardisbury  (Wraysbury) 
were  worked  during  the  greater  part  of  the  i8th 
century,  but  for  a  time  were  converted  into  iron 
or  copper  mills.10  Wyrardisbury  mills  were 
re-converted  into  paper-mills  early  in  the  igth 
century,11  while  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
county  the  manufacture  was  carried  on  at 
Newport  Pagnell  and  at  Marsworth,1*  and 
other  mills  may  have  existed  on  the  northern 
streams.  The  Marsworth  mill  was  destroyed 
by  the  construction  of  the  grand  Junction 
Canal,  which  took  away  all  the  water  of  the 
stream,  for  the  reservoirs  and  canal.  In  1831 
there  were  seventy-six  paper  manufacturers  in 
the  county,  while  220  men  or  boys  were  em- 
ployed in  the  trade  either  as  masters  or  work- 
men.18 Since  then  a  mill  at  Chenies  stopped 
working  between  1851  and  i86i,u  and  at  the 
present  day  the  chief  paper-mills  are  in  the 
south  of  the  county,  the  most  important  being 
at  High  Wycombe,  Great  Marlow,  Wooburn, 
Iver,  and  Bledlow. 

The  first  paper  made  in  Buckinghamshire 
was  writing  and  printing  paper  of  good  quality,11 
but  in  1636-7  complaints  were  made  that  the 
paper  would  not  bear  ink  on  either  side,  while 
the  price  had  risen  considerably.1*  So  little  com- 
petition was  there,  that  Phipps  and  his  fellow 
manufacturers  seem  to  have  made  a  great  profit 
on  the  manufacture  of  bad  paper,  while  a  few 

'  Defoe,  Tour  in  Gt.  Brit.  (17*5),  ii,  70. 

•  W.  James  and  J.  Malcolm,  Gen.  Vino  ofJgrit.  In 
Bucks.  (1794). 

•T.  Langley,  Hilt.  ofHunJ.  ofDesbonugh,  9. 

"Gyll,  Hitt.  of  Wraysbury,  71,  198. 

11  Lipscomb,  Hist,  tf  Bucks,  iv,  620. 

"  Pinnock,  Hist.  anJ  Tofog.  ofEngl.  i,  3 1 .  Informa- 
tion supplied  by  Rev.  W.  Ragg. 

"Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  34. 

"Ibid.  1861,  i,  298. 

"  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  ccclixvi,  6. 

"Ibid.  Chai.  I,  cccxliv,  40  (i). 


Ill 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


years  before    they   had    stopped    their  mills   by 
combination  to  bring  down  the  price  of  rags. 

The  Wycombe  mill-owners  claimed  to  make 
the  best  kinds  of  white  writing  and  printing 
paper.  The  price  varied  from  3*.  to  2os.  a 
ream,  and  the  Paper  Act  of  1690  aimed  at 
preventing  their  making  it  over  4.1.  a  ream.17 
Some  makers  did  make  this  good  paper,  but  the 
greater  part  was  probably  of  a  cheaper  kind,  since 
in  mentioning  the  paper-mills  near  Wycombe 
and  Marlow  in  1725,  Defoe18  said  that  printing 
paper  was  made  '  good  of  its  kind  and  cheap  such 
as  generally  is  made  use  of  in  printing  our  news- 
papers, journals,  &c.,  and  smaller  pamphlets, 
but  not  much  fine  or  large  for  bound  books  or 
writing.'  During  the  i8th  century,  however, 


many  improvements  were  made  in  the  manufac- 
ture. These  were  due  largely  to  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  John  Bates,  a  paper-maker  at  Wycombe 
Marsh.  His  chief  discovery  was  a  method  of  pro- 
ducing paper  for  mezzotints  and  other  engraved 
plates,  which  was  equal  to  the  French  paper  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  for  this  he  received  the 
gold  medal  of  the  Society  of  Arts  in  lySy.18 

Besides  the  invention  of  this  special  paper, 
other  manufacturers  at  the  close  of  the  i8th 
century  were  making  only  papers  dt  luxe.  The 
Rye  Mill  at  High  Wycombe,  for  instance, 
which  has  been  in  existence  for  certainly  a  hun- 
dred years  and  probably  for  longer,  has  always 
produced  paper  of  this  class  for  writing,  drawing, 
ledgers,  and  bank  notes.20 


TANNING    AND    SHOEMAKING 


Several  tan-yards  used  to  exist  in  the  county, 
but  they  are  now  closed  and  there  is  only 
one  firm  of  tanners  in  Buckingham  at  the 
present  day.  So  important  were  the  tan-yards 
of  the  town  of  Buckingham  that  the  tanners 
formed  one  of  the  four  companies  to  which  all 
the  burgesses  of  the  borough  belonged.1  In 
1831, 2  131  men  were  employed  in  the  business 
there,  but  no  other  tanneries  are  mentioned. 
At  Olney,  however,  the  tan-yards  must  have 
been  working  at  that  time,8  and  it  was  noted 
for  the  excellence  of  its  leather  in  all  parts  of 
the  kingdom.  Leather  tanning  seems  to  have 
been  given  up  some  thirty  years  ago,  when  the 
tan-yard,  worked  by  Mr.  Joseph  Palmer  for  oak- 
bark  tanning,  was  closed.  His  yard,  however, 
has  been  purchased  within  the  last  few  years  by 
Messrs.  W.  E.  &  J.  Pebody,  Ltd.,  and  the  works 
re-constructed,  being  old-fashioned  and  disused 
for  many  years.  The  process  of  chrome  tanning 
is  now  carried  on  by  the  firm  at  the  Olney 
yard. 

The  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes,  which  has 
developed  at  Olney  during  the  last  twenty  years, 
was  not  established  till  after  the  tan-yard  was 
closed,  so  that  its  growth  can  have  no  connexion 
with  the  tannery. 

Boot  and  shoe-making  is  also  the  most  im- 
portant trade  of  the  town  of  Chesham.  One  of 

17  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Rep.  xiii,  App.  pt.  v,  74. 

18  Defoe,  Tour  in  Gt.  Brit.  (1725),  ii,  70,  71. 

19  Robert  Gibbs,  Worthies  of  Bucks.   30  ;  T.  Lang- 
ley,  Hist.  ofHund.  ofDesbonugh. 

80  Information  supplied  by  Messrs.  T.  H.  Saunders 
&  Co.  Ltd.,  Rye  Mill,  High  Wycombe. 

1  Brown  Willis,  Hut.  and  Antiq.  of  the  Town,  etc. 
of  Buckingham. 

1  Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  35. 

3  From  information  kindly  given  by  Messrs.  W.  E. 
&  J.  Pebody,  Ltd.  Cowper  Tannery,  Olney. 


the  chief  manufacturers  at  the  present  time  states 
that  there  has  been  an  industry  there  for  many 
generations,  and  that  it  was  probably  due  to  the 
existence  of  several  tan-yards  in  the  town. 
These  latter  have  been  given  up  a  very  long 
time,  owing  doubtless  to  the  later  mode  of  pro- 
ducing leather  by  much  larger  firms  in  London 
and  other  leather  centres,  and  to  the  large  quan- 
tity of  leather  imported.  In  the  i6th  century 
the  shoemakers  at  High  Wycombe  succeeded  in 
closing  the  market  to  '  foreign  '  shoemakers,4  but 
at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  a  new 
order  was  made  by  the  mayor  and  bailiffs,  in 
which  the  restriction  against  showing  goods  in 
the  market  was  specially  removed  from  the 
victualling  and  shoemaking  trades.  There  is, 
however,  no  mention  of  any  particular  locality 
in  which  shoes  were  made  in  any  quantity. 

Early  in  the  igth  century  a  great  many 
hands  were  employed  at  Chesham  in  the  shoe- 
making  trade,  the  goods  manufactured  being 
sent  in  the  main  to  the  London  market.*  It  is 
curious,  however,  that  shoemaking  does  not  ap- 
pear among  the  handicrafts  or  manufactures  of 
the  county  in  the  census  of  1831.'  A  few  years, 
later  the  trade  was  flourishing,7  and  by  1862 
it  had  assumed  very  considerable  proportions, 
the  goods  being  both  sent  to  London  and  ex- 
ported to  foreign  countries.8  For  many  years 
all  the  boots  and  shoes  were  made  by  hand 
throughout,  and  the  work  was  done  in  the  homes 
of  the  workers.  This  is  still  the  case  to  the 
extent  that  hand-work  is  produced,  but 
there  are  few,  if  any,  young  '  hand  sewn  '  men 
in  the  town.  When  boots  began  to  be  riveted> 

*  Wycombe  Borough  Records. 
4  Lysons,  Magna  Brit,  i,  536. 
'Pop.  Ret.  1831,!,  34. 

7  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Such,  iii,  263. 

8  Sheahan,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Bucks.  838. 


112 


INDUSTRIES 


a  number  of  these  men  took  to  that  branch  of 
the  trade,  and  the  term  shoemaker  is  no  longer 
used,  except  among  the  hand-makers,  for  several 
hands  contribute  now  in  the  making  of  a  pair  of 
boots — the  riveters,  sewers,  and  finishers  and 
several  others  all  carrying  on  a  specialized  part 
of  the  work.  At  one  or  two  factories  the 
welting  machine  has  been  introduced  and  then 
discarded  as  not  satisfactory  for  the  somewhat 
stronger  classes  of  boots  for  which  Chesham  has 
become  noted.  For  many  years  these  classes  of 
boots  formed  the  staple  of  the  Chesham  factories, 
and  to  a  large  extent  this  is  still  the  case.  The 


boots,  when  finished,  are  sent  all  over  the  country 
and  a  considerable  quantity  of  them  are  exported. 
The  conditions  of  the  trade  at  the  present  time 
are  said  to  be  good.  'The  families  engaged  in 
the  boot  trade  here  are  very  well  paid  and  gene- 
rally occupy  good  class  cottages  of  the  better 
order  ;  a  strike  is  scarcely  ever  heard  of  ... 
employers  and  employed  appear  to  get  on  very 
well  together.  There  is  no  trade  union  here, 
from  time  to  time  efforts  have  been  made  from 
outside  to  establish  one.  There  is  sufficient 
demand  for  labour  that  an  unreasonable  employer 
would  find  his  men  leave  him.' ' 


STRAW-PLAITING 


A  second  home  industry,  which  still  employs 
a  certain  number  of  people  in  Buckinghamshire, 
is  the  manufacture  of  straw-plait  for  hats  and 
bonnets.  The  manufacture  first  became  import- 
ant in  Italy,  Leghorn  hats  being  still  famous, 
but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  introduced 
into  England  until  the  i8th  century,  when  the 
French  War  stopped  the  importation  of  foreign 
plait.  The  industry  spread  quickly  in  Bedford- 
shire, Hertfordshire  and  Buckinghamshire,  where 
the  wheat-straw  produced  was  the  most  favour- 
able for  English  plait.  In  1768  when  Arthur 
Young  visited  Dunstable,1  the  manufacture  of 
straw-plait  was  established,  but  had  not  grown 
to  much  importance,  basket-work  being  still  the 
chief  industry  of  the  neighbourhood.  Probably 
in  the  neighbouring  county  of  Buckingham 
there  was  then  no  straw-plaiting,  but  by  the  end 
of  the  1 8th  century  it  had  spread  all  over  the 
county. 

In  1813  lace  and  straw-plaiting  were  the 
chief  industries*  of  the  county,  occupying  so 
many  women  and  girls  that  none  of  them 
worked  in  the  fields. 

When  foreign  plait  was  unprocurable,  the  Eng- 
lish article  was  much  used,  but  the  large  size 
of  the  wheat-straws  used  made  it  very  inferior  to 
the  Italian  plait.1  To  overcome  this  defect  the 
straws  were  split  and  the  narrow  '  splints '  used 
instead  of  the  whole  straw.  At  first  this  process 
was  done  by  hand  with  a  pen-knife,  but  it  was 
tedious  and  difficult  to  obtain  uniformity  in  the 
size  of  the  splints.  A  straw-splitting  machine  was 
then  introduced,  which  greatly  added  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  industry.  It  is  not  certain  who  was 
the  original  inventor,  several  stories  existing  as 
to  the  first  machine  made.  One  of  these,  how- 
ever, claims  that  the  honour  belongs  to  a  Bucking- 


'  Information  given  by  Messrs.  J.  &  E.  Reynolds. 
1  Si*  Months'  Tour,  i,  1 6. 
'  St.  John  Priest,  Agr'u.  Surv.  of  Bucks.  346. 
1  Penny  Cyclopaedia  xziii. 

2  113 


hamshire  man.     In  an  account  of  straw-plaiting 
written  in  1822,  the  following  story  is  given4 : — 

Our  informant  states  that  his  father,  Thomas  Sim- 
mons (now  deceased),  was  residing  when  a  boy,  about 
the  year  1785,  at  Chalfont  St.  Peter's,  Buckinghamshire, 
and  that  when  amusing  himself  one  evening  by  cutting 
pieces  of  wood,  he  made  an  article  upon  which  he  put 
a  straw  and  found  that  it  divided  it  into  several  pieces. 
A  female  who  was  present  asked  him  to  give  it  to  her, 
observing  that  if  he  could  not  make  money  of  it,  she 
could.  She  had  the  instrument,  and  gave  the  boy  a 
shilling.  He  was  subsequently  apprenticed  to  a  black- 
smith ;  and  on  visiting  his  friends,  he  found  them 
engaged  in  splitting  straws  with  a  pen-knife.  Per- 
ceiving that  the  operation  might  be  better  performed 
by  an  apparatus  similar  to  that  which  he  had  made 
some  time  before,  he  then  made  some  machines  of 
iron  on  the  same  principle. 

The  straw-splitting  machine  does  not  seem  to 
have  come  into  general  use  until  about  1815. 

The  most  successful  period  of  the  manufacture 
was  during  the  French  War,  when  foreign  plaits 
were  prohibited.  The  latter  were  in  many  ways 
superior  to  English  plait,  but  various  efforts  were 
made  to  improve  its  quality,  especially  by  the 
Society  of  Arts.*  These  efforts  maintained  the 
industry  for  a  considerable  period  and  it  was  in  a 
flourishing  condition  in  the  middle  of  the  iQth 
century.  Lipscomb,  writing  at  that  time,*  says 
that  at  Broughton  '  the  female  population  were 
chiefly  employed,  formerly  in  lace-making  but 
more  recently  in  platting  straw  or  chip  hats  and 
bonnets  '  and  at  High  Wycombc  lace-making  had 
been  almost  entirely  superseded  by  straw  and  chip 
plaiting.7 

Very  good  wages,  for  the  time,  were  earned  at 
the  trade.  In  1813  women  were  able  to  earn 
3<3J.  a  week,8  but  this  was  probably  the  highest 

4  Ibid.  109.  'Johnson,  Universal  Cyclopaedia. 

*  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iv,  77.  '  Ibid,  iii,  644. 


•St. 
346. 


John   Priest,  Gen.  View   of  Agric.    of  Bucks. 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


rate  obtainable,  and  in  the  Aylesbury  district  22s. 
a  week  were  the  best  wages  obtained  while  the  in- 
dustry was  most  successful.8  Ivinghoe  and  Ayles- 
bury were  the  chief  centres  of  the  manufacture 
in  Buckinghamshire.  At  the  former,  the  Satur- 
day market  was  largely  for  straw-plait,  which  was 
still  brought  to  it  in  considerable  quantities  in 
i862.10  At  Aylesbury  a  plait-market  was  estab- 
lished by  Mr.  Robert  Thorpe  in  1846  n  and  suc- 
ceeded for  a  time,  but  was  finally  given  up  owing 
to  the  drop  in  prices  that  shortly  occurred.  In 
1862  the  following  places  carried  on  the  industry 
in  the  county,  Bow  Brickhill,  Great  Brickhill, 
Little  Brickhill,  Wavendon,  Aston  Abbots, 
Drayton  Parslow,  Hoggeston,  Pitstone,  Stewkley, 
Swanbourne,Whitchurch,  Amersham,  besides  the 
Ivinghoe  and  Aylesbury  districts.13  The  industry 
had  many  different  kinds  of  workers,  with  a  great 


deal  of  specialization  ;  there  were  bleachers, 
cutters,  dyers,  flatters,  stringers,  drawers,  and 
packers  each  doing  their  own  particular  work  in 
making  the  straw-plait.13 

Although  the  end  of  the  French  War  made 
straw-plaiting  less  profitable  in  England  than  it 
had  been  before,  it  was  not  till  the  removal  of  the 
import  duties  on  foreign  plait,  that  the  real  decay 
of  the  industry  set  in.  Buckinghamshire  seems  to 
have  lost  the  greater  part  of  its  trade  in  this  article 
sooner  than  the  other  straw-plaiting  counties,14 
but  it  is  still  carried  on  about  Ivinghoe  and  Ed- 
lesborough.15  A  rough  estimate  fixes  500  to 
600  as  the  number  of  straw-plaiters  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, but  the  industry  is  still  declining,  the 
demand  being  very  small.  The  workers,  too, 
prefer  factory  or  domestic  service,  for  both  of 
which  there  is  a  great  demand. 


BRICKS,    TILES    AND    POTTERY 


In  a  county  possessing  but  little  stone  for  build- 
ing, the  manufacture  of  bricks  was  one  of  the 
most  important  industries.  In  the  rates  of  wages 
fixed  by  the  justices  of  the  peace  in  I562,1  only 
five  kinds  of  artificers  are  especially  mentioned, 
namely,  master  carpenters  and  sawyers,  brick- 
layers, tilers  and  thatchers.  Bricklayers  and  tilers 
were  to  receive  8d.  a  day  in  summer  and  6d.  in 
winter,  and  their  labourers  dd.  and  5^. 
respectively,  though  in  fact  they  received  much 
more. 

In  the  I  yth  century,8  Sir  Ralph  Verney 
started  a  considerable  amount  of  building,  and  in 
his  correspondence  with  his  steward  there  are 
many  details  about  the  brick-fields  at  Claydon. 
In  1 656  he  paid  the  brick-maker  6s.  a  thousand  for 
making  and  burning  bricks,  I s.  a  quarter  for  burn- 
ing lime,  and  51.  a  hundred  for  making  and  burning 
pavements.  The  year  before  he  had  procured 
brick  pavements  from  the  neighbouring  villages. 
They  were  9  in.  square  and  there  was  some 
difficulty  in  the  carting  of  them  to  Claydon. 
The  steward  wrote  that  if  Sir  Ralph  '  take  soe 
great  a  quantity,  as  from  12  or  15  hundred  to- 
gether ....  6  oxen  would  not  well  draw  500 
at  a  loade,  for  they  are  not  near  twice  so  heavy 
as  brick  and  an  ordinary  cart  will  bring  on  5  or  6 
hundred  of  brick  at  a  loade  now  that  wages  are 
good.'  The  building  had  to  be  stopped  very  soon 

"Gibbs,  Hiit.  of  Aylesbury,  667. 

10  Sheahan,  Topog.  of  Bucks.  694. 

11  Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  667. 
11  Sheahan,  Topog.  of  Bucks. 
"Gibbs,  Hist,  of  Aylesbury,  667. 
"V.C.H.Beds.  ii,  121. 

15  Information  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  William  Gray, 
plait  merchant,  Edlesborough. 
1  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  xix,  43. 
*  Memoirs  of  the  Verney  family,  iii,  132. 


after  this  owing  to  financial  straits  of  the  Verneys 
after  the  Civil  War,  but  Sir  Ralph  had  already 
ordered  100,000  bricks  to  be  made  and  the  work- 
men could  not  be  discharged  at  once.  Two  years 
later,  however,  in  1658,  the  building  was  begun 
afresh  ;  the  brickyard  was  trenched  and  as  soon 
as  the  brickmakers  could  come,  tools,  wheel-bar- 
rows and  moulds  were  delivered  to  them  by  their 
employer.  Bricks  and  tiles  were  made  at  the 
same  period  at  Brill  from  the  earth  of  Brill  Hills  * 
and  the  brick-fields  in  the  neighbourhood  on  the 
line  of  the  Brill  Tramway  still  continue.  The 
earth  there  was  also  used  for  earthenware  drain 
pipes. 

Brick-making  was  carried  on  in  other  parts 
of  the  county  in  early  times.  In  1831,*  116 
men  were  employed  in  the  industry  either  as 
masters  or  workmen,  and  in  1862  there  were 
brick-fields  at  Fenny  Stratford,  Whitchurch, 
Burnham,  Chalfont  St.  Peter  and  Hillesden.6 
It  is  curious,  however,  that  the  brick-fields  at 
Slough  are  not  mentioned  at  that  date,  since  they 
are  now  the  most  important  in  the  county  and 
had  been  established  before  1862. 

The  town  of  Slough  has  grown  up  very 
recently  ;  the  demand  for  houses  there  and  the 
facilities  for  the  transportation  of  bricks  have  both 
been  made  by  the  building  of  the  Great  Western 
Railway.  The  brick-fields  were  started  about 
sixty-three  years  ago  by  Mr.  Thomas  Nash  and 
are  now  owned  by  a  company  formed  in  1 893 
under  the  name  of  H.  &  J.  Nash,  Ltd.  The 
fields  extend  into  the  neighbouring  parishes 
of  Langley  Marish  and  Iver,  and  about  four- 
teen million  bricks  are  made  annually,  steam- 

"Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Suds,  i,  53. 
*  Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  34 

6  Sheahan,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Bucks.  538,  772, 
815,  827,  281. 


114. 


INDUSTRIES 


power  having  been  used  for  the  last  twenty 
years.* 

Buckinghamshire  is  not  famous  for  any  great 
potteries,  but  the  Brill  pottery  dates  from  very 
ancient  times.  The  first  mention  of  potters 
there  is  in  1254,'  in  an  inquisition  as  to  rights  of 
gathering  wood  in  Brill  Woods.  The  jurors  gave 
evidence  as  to  the  privileges  of  certain  ecclesias- 
tical lords  and  ended  with  saying  that  the  potters 
took  small-wood,  &c.,  for  their  kilns  contrary  to 
the  forest  regulations.  The  right  to  dig  brick 
earth  in  Barnwood  Forest  was  probably  theirs 
from  time  immemorial,  but  the  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Brill  exacted  an  annual  payment  of 
4*.  bd.  known  as  the  'Claygavel.'  This  was 
paid  in  the  I3th  and  I4th  centuries  with  regu- 
larity and  is  continually  entered  in  the  steward's 
accounts.'  At  the  disafforestmcnt  of  Barnwood 
in  the  reign  of  James  I,'  an  allotment  of  common- 
able  land  was  made  for  artificers  and  cottages,  by 
an  order  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  '  many 
artificers  of  Brill  having  received  employment  by 
making  brick,  tyle,  lyme  and  potts  out  of  the 
soyle  of  Brill  hills.'  A  pot  was  dug  up  at  Long 
Crendon  near  Brill,  about  1885,  containing  coins 
of  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  and  earlier,  and 
presumably  was  made  by  the  Brill  potters. 

More  recently  the  chief  pottery  works  were 
carried  on  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hubbocks, 
the  last  descendant  being  still  at  Brill  at  the 
present  time.10  They  were  potters  for  1 49  years 
and  the  father  of  the  present  Mr.  Hubbocks  owned 
the  last  pottery.  His  kiln  is  still  to  be  seen,  and 
was  used  till  within  three  years  of  his  death, 
which  took  place  about  thirty-two  years  ago. 
He  used  the  old  wheel  and  fashioned  the  pots 
with  his  finger  and  thumb.  At  one  time, 
presumably  during  the  lifetime  of  the  elder 
Hubbocks,  there  were  seven  potteries  in  Brill, 
and  in  1831  thirty-five  men  were  employed  in 
making  earthenware  pottery  in  the  county.11 
The  industry  was,  however,  not  in  a  flourishing 
condition  a  few  years  later,  owing  to  the  in- 
creased price  of  fuel  and  the  cost  of  carriage,11 
but  in  1862,  there  was  still  a  pottery  for  the 
manufacture  of  brown  earthenware.  The  colour 
however,  seems  more  generally  to  have  been 

'  From  information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  A.   H. 
Woolley,  14  Mill  Street,  Slough. 
7  HunJ.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  i,  21. 
'  Mins.  Accts.  bdlc.  759,  nos.  30,  31. 

I  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  i,  107. 

'*  From  information  kindly  obtained  from  Mr.  Hub- 
bocks,  by  Mrs.  Riley,  Brill  Vicarage. 

II  Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  34. 

"  Lipscomb,  Hut.  of  Bucki.  i,  107. 


varying  shades  of  yellow  and  green,  produced  by 
the  different  kinds  of  clay  from  which  the  pots 
were  made. 

Hubbocks  made  for  the  most  part  flower-pots 
and  large  pans  and  jugs,  one  or  two  of  which 
are  to  be  seen  at  Brill,  but  they  bear  no  date 
since  he  only  dated  his  pots  at  the  request  of  the 
customer.  His  stock  was  bought  up  some 
years  ago  '  for  a  museum  in  Oxford.' 

An  older  pot  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  F.  H. 
Parrott,  of 'The  Camp,'  Kimble.  It  bears  the 
indented  inscription  'M.M.  1764 'on  its  side 
and  on  the  bottom  is  written  '  John  Sheperde, 
Poter,  Brill,  Bux.'  The  pot  is  of  rough  red 
earthenware  with  a  greenish-brown  glaze  and 
was  found  in  a  cottage  at  Brill  where  it  was 
bought  by  a  man  at  Aylesbury,  who  sold  it  to 
its  present  owner. 

There  were  other  potteries  at  Coleshill,  a  ham- 
let in  the  parish  of  Amersham,  and  at  Chalfont 
St.  Peter,  in  the  early  part  of  the  i  gth  century.11 
The  latter,  which  is  now  called  the  Beaconsfield 
Pottery,  was  established  in  1 805  by  Mr.  William 
Wellins,  but  changed  hands  shortly  and  was 
bought  by  Mr.  John  Swallow,  who  practically 
was  the  real  starter  of  the  pottery.  It  has  never 
assumed  very  large  proportions,  and  Mrs.  M. 
Saunders  &  Son,  the  lessees  of  the  pottery,  now 
chiefly  produce  flower-pots,  stands,  chimney-pots 
and  pipes  and  similar  articles.14  It  has,  however, 
continued  working  to  the  present  day,  in  spite  of 
the  keen  competition  in  the  industry. 

A  pottery  of  another  character  existed  near 
Great 'Marlow  until  the  present  year,  when 
it  was  moved  to  Staffordshire.16  The  Med- 
menham  pottery  was  established  ten  years  ago 
about  a  mile  from  the  town  of  Great  Marlow, 
with  the  object  of  producing  architectural  pot- 
tery and  tiles  with  individuality  in  design  and 
execution.  To  secure  this,  the  works  were 
established  in  the  country,  materials  from  Mar- 
low  being  used  when  possible  and  village  work- 
people only  employed  for  the  most  part.  It  has 
however,  been  found  impossible  to  continue  the 
pottery  in  Buckinghamshire,  so  far  from  the 
main  pottery  districts.  Some  of  the  chief  pieces 
of  work  accomplished  were,  however,  done  while 
the  pottery  was  still  at  Marlow,  one  of  the  most 
important  being  the  frieze  surrounding  the  new 
hall  of  the  Law  Society  in  Chancery  Lane. 

11  Ibid,  iii,  146  ;  Sheahan,  Hut.  and  lopog.  of 
Biukt.  8*7. 

14  From  information  kindly  supplied  by  Mrs. 
Saunders  &  Son,  Beaconsfield  Pottery. 

"  Information  kindly  given  by  Mr.  Conrad 
Dressier. 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


BELL-FOUNDRIES 


In  the  church  tower  of  Caversfield,  formerly 
in  Buckinghamshire  but  since  1845  included  in 
Oxfordshire,  is  what  is  probably  the  oldest 
church  bell  remaining  in  England  ;  it  may  be 
fairly  considered  as  of  '  local '  as  opposed  to 
London  origin.  Its  very  curious  form  and 
inscriptions  have  been  fully  described  by  the 
present  writer  elsewhere,1  but  its  quite  excep- 
tional interest  merits  additional  notice.  The 
shape  is  probably  unique  ;  it  has  a  very  round 
shoulder,  an  extremely  long  waist,  and  it  is 
nearly  the  same  size  all  the  way  down  from 
shoulder  to  lip.  Ordinarily  the  greatest  thick- 
ness of  a  bell  is  at  the  sound-bow,  diminishing 
again  thence  to  an  edge  at  the  lip  ;  but  in  this 
bell  the  thickness  continues  increasing  below  the 
sound-bow  until  it  ends  abruptly  in  a  flat  lip 
2  in.  thick.  The  diameter  at  lip  is  2of  in. ; 
height  to  crown  2o£  in.  The  large  canons  add 
about  another  7  in.  to  the  height  (5^  in.  visible 
under  the  stock). 

Round  the  sound-bow  is  very  legibly  inscribed, 
with  a  perfectly  plain  initial  cross,  in  equally 
plain  capitals  of  Roman  character,  except  only 
that  the  G  is  curved  in  Lombardic  character, 
the  A  has  a  cross-bar  on  the  top,  and  the  3  is 
reversed  : — 

+    INHONORG  •  DEI  •  GT2ANTI  • 
LAVRGNCII 

Round  the  sound-bow  is  a  second  inscrip- 
tion,1* which  had  hitherto  baffled  all  attempts 
to  decipher  it.  It  was  scratched  in  extra- 
ordinary characters  by  hand  on  the  cope,  not 
stamped,  and  is  reversed,  that  is  it  reads  from 
right  to  left.  It  cannot  be  adequately  repro- 
duced in  type,  but  the  intention  was  apparently 
as  follows : — 

HUGLH]  GARGATfE]  SIBILLAQCUE]  UXOR 
EJUS  H[/EC]  TIMPANNA  (=  tympana) 
FECERUNT  ECPONI  (=exponi) 

At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II, 
Brian  Fitz  Count,  Lord  of  Wallingford,  the 
owner  of  the  manor  of  Caversfield  and  other 
estates,  entered  a  religious  house ;  the  king 
seized  the  properties  and  bestowed  this  manor 
on  Roger  Gargate.  Ten  years  later  (1164) 
Roger  granted  the  church  of  this  parish  to  the 
Abbey  of  Missenden,  to  take  effect  on  the  next 
voidance  of  the  rectory.  Browne  Willis2  states, 

1  The  Ch.  Bells  of  Bucks.  (Jarrold,  1 897). 

u  This  inscription  was  erroneously  described  (torn, 
cit.)  as  if  on  another  and  now  destroyed  bell. 

'  Hilt,  and  Antiq.  of  Town  of  Buckingham,  165.  In 
the  'Liber  Cartarii  Monasterii  Beate  Marie  de  Mis- 
sendene '  are  transcribed  ten  deeds  concerning  this 
parish,  but  all  dates  are  omitted. 


on  the  authority  of  the  Register  of  Missenden 
Abbey,  that  Hugh  Gargate  confirmed  his  father's 
donation,  and  that  Hugh's  wife,  Sibill  de  Cavers- 
field, swore  that  she  would  not  interfere. 

Hugh  seems  to  have  been  in  possession  of  the 
estate  by  1207,  as  his  name  appears  in  the  Fine 
Rolls  for  that  year  (9  John)  ;  and  he  was 
apparently  still  living  in  1216,  as  his  name 
appears  in  the  Close  Rolls  for  that  year  ( 1 8  John). 
He  must  have  died  soon  afterwards — in  or  before 
1219 — because  Kennett2  under  the  date  of  that 
year  (3  &  4  Hen.  Ill)  quotes  a  deed  by  which 
Isabel  daughter  of  Hugh  Gargate  of  Caversfield, 
widow,  gave  to  the  church  at  Burcester  part 
of  a  croft  (the  other  part  having  been  already 
given  by  her  sister  Muriel)  on  condition  that  the 
canons  of  that  church  should  receive  her  and  her 
mother  into  the  prayers  of  their  house  for  ever. 
Though  the  omission  of  her  father's  name  does 
not  prove  that  he  was  dead,  it  tends  to  suggest 
that  supposition ;  and  dated  the  same  year  is 
another  deed  in  which  there  occurs — '  ego 
Sybilla  de  Kaversfeld  quondam  uxor  Hugonis 
Gargat  in  pura  viduitate,'  which  leaves  no 
doubt  as  to  the  fact.  An  agreement  follows 
between  William  de  Ros  and  Sibil  de  Cavers- 
field and  Muriel  her  daughter,  by  which  Sibil 
and  Muriel  did  remit  to  William  de  Ros  the 
lands  which  lately  belonged  to  Hugh  Gargat  in 
the  village  of  Warmington.  Dated  4  Hen.  Ill 
apud  Oxon.  (=  1220). 

It  seems  therefore  clear  that  the  bell  was  cast 
before  1219. 

There  is  nothing  to  give  any  clue  to  its 
founder,  but  in  early  days  the  difficulty  of  car- 
riage usually  necessitated  the  casting  of  church 
bells  either  on  the  spot,  or  at  a  foundry 
within  some  dozen  miles,  unless  water-carriage 
was  available.  No  village  is  too  small  to  have 
been  the  site  of  a  foundry,  and  many  early  bells 
were  turned  out  by  monks  in  the  religious  houses, 
but  the  three  nearest  towns  to  Caversfield  are 
Bicester  (Oxon.  2  m.  S.),  Buckingham  (8£  m. 
NE.),  and  Woodstock  (Oxon.  10  m.  SW.). 
There  is  apparently  nothing  to  connect  either  of 
the  Oxfordshire  towns  with  this  craft  (until  the 
1 7th  century,  when  James  Keene  from  Bedford 
set  up  a  foundry  at  Woodstock),  but  Buck- 
ingham was  the  site  of  a  flourishing  bell-founding 
business  by  the  i6th  century  at  any  rate,  and 
several  other  bells  have  to  be  mentioned,  show- 
ing probably  at  least  three  '  local '  foundries  not 
out  of  range,  in  the  course  of  the  1 4th  century. 

Oddly  enough,  the  next  five  bells  in  age  in 
the  county  to  that  at  Caversfield  are  by  a  London 


"  Par.  Antiq.  (ed.  I,  1695),  189  ;  (ed.   2,  1818), 
i,  264,  266,  268. 


116 


INDUSTRIES 


founder,  Michael  de  Wymbis,  by  whom  no  other 
bells  arc  known  anywhere  ;  but  there  is  docu- 
mentary evidence  proving  that  he  was  founding 
bells  in  London  in  1290,  and  dead  by  1310.' 
It  seems  a  long  way  to  have  dragged  two  of  his 
bells  all  the  way  from  London  to  Old  Bradwell 
and  one  to  Lee  ;  the  other  two  are  at  Bradenham, 
and  there  is  evidence  apparently  leaving  no  doubt 
that  they  only  came  there  in  the  i6th  century, 
probably  bought  second-hand  after  the  suppres- 
sion of  some  religious  house  not  very  far  off". 
As  Bradenham  itself  is  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
Thames,  and  the  original  home  of  the  bells  may 
have  been  still  nearer  the  river,  their  journey  from 
London  would  have  been  comparatively  simple. 
One  other  1 4th-century  bell  in  Buckinghamshire, 
at  Tattenhoe,  is  by  a  London  founder,  Peter  de 
Weston,  who  died  in  1 347,"  but  as  the  bell  is  quite 
small,  not  much  over  I  cwt.,  its  transport  would 
have  presented  no  serious  difficulty. 

Within  a  radius  of  1 1  miles  from  Buckingham 
as  centre,  or  actually  within  a  radius  of  under 
<j  miles  from  Leckhampstead,  are  no  less  than 
nine  bells  which  may  be  confidently  assigned  to 
the  1 4th  century;  they  are  probably  all  of 
'  local '  origin,  and  seem  to  be  the  work  of  about 
five  different  founders,  though  by  no  means 
necessarily  emanating  from  as  many  different 
foundries ;  that  is  to  say  that  two  or  more 
founders  may  have  succeeded  each  other  at  the 
same  foundry.  There  is  no  reason  to  suggest 
that  any  of  the  bells  were  cast  at  Leckhampstead, 
but  4$-  miles  thence  to  the  north-west  was 
Luffield  Abbey,  which  is  a  very  likely  birthplace 
for  at  least  some  of  them. 

Of  these  nine  bells  five  have  the  same  initial 
cross  in  the  inscription,  so  we  need  not  doubt 
their  common  origin,  and  three  of  the  five  have 
the  same  lettering  as  well.  Possibly  the  oldest 
is  the  treble  at  Little  Linford,  inscribed  in 
rudely-formed  Lombardic  capitals,  without  any 
stop  or  increase  of  space  between  the  words  :  — 

+AVEMARIAGRACIAPLENA 

The  tenor  at  Newton  Purcell,  only  just  over 
the  Buckinghamshire  border,  in  Oxfordshire, 
has  the  same  inscription,  but  arranged  thus  : — 

+  AVE   :   MARVIA  :  GRACT7IA  :  PLENA? 

The  treble  at  Barton  Hartshorn,  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, barely  a  mile  from  the  last,  has  : — 

+  IACOBVVS  :  ESTUNOMENtfEIVS 

The  shield  on  the  two  latter  bells  is  chevronie, 
but  the  cheverons  are  inverted.  As  this  arrange- 
ment has  no  existence  hcr.ildic.illy  it  is  doubtless 
merely  a  trade  device  of  the  founder. 

A  fourth  bell  having  the  same  initial  cross  as 

• 

1  Ch.  Belli  of  Bucks.  6. 
"Ibid.  9.* 


the  last  three,  but  a  better-formed  lettering,  is  at 
Thornton.     It  bears  a  rhyming  hexameter  : — 

+  SINT  :  PRO  I  ELYA  :  MICHAEL  \  DEVS  ! 
ATQVE  :  MARIA 

It  seems  to  allude  to  Elias  de  Tingewick,  who 
was  rector  here  from  1315  to  1347.* 

The  fifth  appearance  of  the  above  initial  cross 
is  on  the  treble  at  Radston  or  Radstone  St.  Law- 
rence, Northants  (west  of  Leckhampstead,  and 
within  the  suggested  radius).  Mr.  North  *  un- 
fortunately does  not  figure  the  lettering.  Its 
rhyming  hexameter  has  something  of  a  family 
likeness  to  the  last  one  : — 

+  FIT  !  TVA  :  LAVRENTI  :  FORMA  : 
CAMPANA:  DECENTI 

At  Chetwode  the  single  (large)  bell  also  bears 
a  rhyming  hexameter  of  similar  character,  in 
lettering  very  similar  to  the  Thornton  set,  but 
smaller,  with  initial  cross  to  correspond  ;  a  re- 
markable peculiarity  of  the  inscription  being  the 
employment  of  the  initial  '  I '  as  the  second  syll- 
able of  a  '  spondee,'  to  be  read  as  '  J  '  to  avoid 
making  the  previous  syllable  into  a  false 
quantity  : — 

+  ME:TIBI:XP*E:DABAT:  I:  CHETWODE: 
QVEM  :  PERAMABAT 

There  were  several  John  Chetwodes  to  choose 
from,  but  one  who  died  c.  1347  gives  approxi- 
mately the  expected  date. 

The  same  cross  and  lettering  occur  on  the 
saunce  bell  at  Leckhampstead,  in  which  the 
oddly-blundered  Latin  inscription  is  made  worse 
by  the  letter  '  K  '  having  apparently  to  do  duty 
for  both  '  H  '  and  '  R,'  which  seem  to  have  been 
broken  or  otherwise  missing.  The  curiously 
long-tailed  'Q'  has  been  divided  into  three  parts, 
two  of  which  do  duty  as  stops  between  the 
words.  These  facts,  and  the  worn  appearance 
of  the  remaining  letters,  indicate  that  this  bell  is 
later  than  that  at  Chetwode,  but  how  much  so 
is  difficult  to  determine,  though  quite  possibly  it 
may  not  be  older  than  the  i6th  century  : — 

+    CKESTIT    S    ME    L    FIKI    S    FECET 

The  late  Mr.  E.  J.  Payne  *  suggested  that  the 
first  word  was  intended  to  read  'CHESTIL' 
as  an  abbreviated  form  of  Chastillon,  the  family 
to  whom  the  manor  belonged;  if  so  'L'  (and 
perhaps  '  A ')  may  be  added  to  the  category  of 
missing  letters ;  but  the  Leckhampstead  estate 
passed  out  of  the  Chastillon  family  before  1398.*" 

4  Browne  Willis  similarly  explains  the  allusion  in 
Hist,  and  Anfiq.  of  Buck.  300. 

•  Ch.  Belli  of  Nor  than  ft. 

•  In  a  review  of '  The  Ch.  Bells  of  Bucb.'  in  Tbt 
Records  of  Bucks,  viii,  41  (1898). 

•  Lipscomb,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iii,  24. 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


The  eighth  of  this  group  of  nine  bells  is  the 
other  bell  at  Barton  Hartshorn.  The  cross  and 
lettering  are  very  similar  to  those  on  the  treble 
previously  mentioned,  which  may  be  due  merely 
to  contemporary  style.  The  two  sets  are  figured 
on  plate  VI  of  Church  Bells  of  Bucks,  where  the 
'C'  on  the  treble  so  closely  matches  the  '  E"  on 
the  tenor,  that  taken  by  themselves  they  would 
probably  be  considered  to  belong  to  the  same 
set.  The  patterns  of  the  heads  and  canons  of 
the  two  bells,  however,  differ  so  much  as  to 
point  (irrespective  of  the  lettering)  to  different 
founders,  but  not  necessarily  different  foundries. 
The  inscription  is  : — 

+  IHESVPIEFLOSMARIE 

From  the  absence  of  any  stop  or  increase  of 
space  between  the  words,  this  bell  seems  closely 
to  correspond  in  date  to  the  treble  at  Little 
Linford,  and  though  it  may  be  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  it  is  more  likely  to  show  that  these 
two  bells  are  the  earliest  of  this  group. 

The  last  bell  in  this  restricted  radius  is  the 
single  at  Foscott,  which  is  blank,  so  beyond  the 
opinion  that  it  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  I4th 
century,  and  is  a  well-cast  bell,  nothing  more 
can  be  said  about  it.  A  very  careful  comparison 
of  head  and  canons  might  possibly  show  a  family 
likeness  to  some  other  bell. 

Besides  the  above  nine  bells  there  was  for- 
merly a  bell  evidently  of  the  I4th  century  at 
Caversfield  (unfortunately  melted  in  1876),  in- 
scribed in  a  pretty  little  set  of  Lombardic 
capitals  and  cross  to  match,  together  with  the 
impression  of  a  coin  : — 

+  O    IN  +  HOHORE  (fie)  +  BEATI  + 
LAVRENCII 

So  far  as  can  be  judged  by  a  rubbing  (kindly 
lent  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Walters,  F.S.A.),  the  saunce 
at  Idbury,  Oxon  (5^  miles  N.  by  W.  of 
Burford),  is  inscribed  with  the  same  cross  and 
lettering  : — 

+  AVE  S  PLENA  I  GRACIA 

The  discovery  of  this  bell  has  caused  the  writer 
to  alter  the  opinion  expressed  in  Church  Bells 
of  Bucks,  that  the  Caversfield  bell  was  cast  in 
London.  It  seems  more  likely  that  the  two  are 
of  '  local '  origin.  Idbury  is  about  23  miles 
west  of  Caversfield,  so  perhaps  their  founder 
lived  in  Oxfordshire,  somewhere  about  Chipping 
Norton,  or  one  of  the  villages  to  the  south-east 
of  that  town. 

There  are  three  bells  in  Buckinghamshire,  the 
seconds  at  Little  Missenden,  Ravenstone,  and  Stoke 
Hammond  respectively,  which  are  believed  to  be 
by  John  Rofford,  Ruffbrd,  or  Rughford,  who 
was  appointed  royal  bell-founder  in  1367,  and 
was  therefore  probably  working  in  London. 
Bells  by  the  same  founder  are  found  in  Bedford- 


shire, Cambridgeshire,  Hertfordshire,  and  Leices- 
tershire, and  at  Christchurch,  Hants,  where 
there  are  two  bearing  unusually  long  inscrip- 
tions, each  consisting  of  two  rhyming  hexa- 
meters. There  is  also  a  bell  of  this  make 
at  Magdalen  College  School,  Wainfleet,  Lin- 
colnshire, to  which  it  must  have  been  brought 
second-hand,  as  the  school  was  not  founded  till 
1484.  John  Rofford  was  dead  before  1390  ; 
and  was  followed  by  a  William  Rufford,  who  is 
believed  to  be  the  founder  of  the  tenor  at  Hard- 
mead,  and  of  the  second  at  Beachampton,  which 
latter  was  pronounced  by  the  late  Mr.  J.  C.  L. 
Stahlschmidt  to  be  '  clearly  a  Midland  counties' 
bell ' ;  otherwise  William  Rufford  was  thought 
to  be  a  London  founder.  In  1888  Mr.  Stahl- 
schmidt discovered  that  in  the  Patent  Roll  of 
21  Richard  II  (1398)  a  William  Belmaker  of 
Toddington,  Bedfordshire,  is  mentioned,  but  he 
hesitated  to  say  whether  this  indicated  an  actual 
bell-founder  by  trade,  or  a  descendant  of  one  re- 
taining the  trade  name  as  a  surname.7  In  1 906 
Mr.  Fred.  G.  Gurney,8  while  making  researches 
into  the  history  of  the  Ruffords  of  Northall  in 
Edlesborough  (Buckinghamshire),  traced  the  pedi- 
gree back  to  '  William  Rufford,  of  Tudyngton 
belmaker,'  who  is  mentioned  in  a  licence  dated 
8  October  1390,  by  which  Thomas  Bullok 
of  Edlesborough  might  enfeoff  the  parsons  of 
'  Tudyngton  and  Edelesburgh  '  and  others  with 
lands  there,  in  trust  to  grant  them  to  Thomas 
Rufford  his  son-in-law,  son  of  William  above> 
and  to  his  wife  Katherine,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Bullok.9  It  is  very  probable  that  William  the 
Bellmaker  of  Toddington  is  identical  with 
William  Rufford,  and  the  existence  of  a  bell 
foundry  at  Toddington  seems  to  be  placed  be- 
yond doubt. 

William  Rufford  was  still  living  in  1415,  for 
another  William,  possibly  his  son,  is  called 
'junior'  at  that  date.  The  family  took  their 
name  from  Rufford,  in  Chalgrove  parish,  co. 
Oxon,  where  Thomas  Rufford  at  his  death  in 
1420  held  63  acres  of  the  heirs  of  Dru  (Drogo) 
Barentyn  as  of  the  manor  of  '  Chalgrave ' 10  in 
Oxfordshire,  as  well  as  land  in  chief  at  Edles- 
borough in  Buckinghamshire.  Mr.  Gurney 
further  mentions  finding  an  Andrew  Roffard  of 
an  earlier  date  than  John,  who  may  have  be- 
longed to  the  same  family.  He  was  one  of 
many  rioters  to  arrest  whom  commissioners  were 
appointed  on  20  May  1348,  on  complaint  of 
the  Black  Prince,  for  having  assaulted  his  ser- 
vants, detained  his  horses  and  carts,  and  carried 
away  his  goods  at  Thame.11 

7  Cb.  Belli  of  Bucks.  18. 

8  Kindly  communicated  by  letter  to  the  writer. 
'  Cal.  Pat.  1388-92,  p.  305. 

10  Inq.  p.m.  taken   at  Oxford,   8   Hen.   V.     By  a 
coincidence    there  is  a  village   of  'Chalgrave'   only 
i  mile  from  Toddington  in  Beds. 

11  Cal.  Pat.  1348-50,  p.  156. 


INDUSTRIES 


For  over  a  century,  beginning  from  the  latter 
part  of  the  1 3th  century,  when  bell-founders  in 
London  begin  to  be  recognizable,  they  were 
almost  always  styled  '  Potter,'  or  by  the  Latin 
equivalent  0//ariui.™  Patter  was  a  common 
name  in  Buckinghamshire  and  Bedfordshire  from 
at  least  as  early  as  1213,  and  its  very  natural 
corruption  Porter  appears  from  1275.  In  the 
Visitation  of  Bucks.,  by  Wm.  Harley,  claren- 
ceux  king  at  arms,  1566,  the  arms  of  a  John 
Porter  of  Barton  Hartshorn,  who  married  about 
the  first  half  of  the  1 4th  century,  are  given  as 
*  sa.  3  Bells  ar.'  ll  This  certainly  seems  a  likely 
coat  to  be  borne  by  the  descendant  of  a  bell- 
founder,  although  a  local  bell-founder  would 
hardly  have  had  a  coat  of  arms. 

In  the  History,  etc.,  of  the  Prebendal  Church, 
ttc.,  of  Thame  (Oxon.)  by  the  late  Rev.  F.  G. 
Lee  (1883),  are  many  quotations  from  the  oldest 
known  volume  of  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of 
that  parish.11*  Among  them  a  bell-founder  named 
Thomas  Swadling  is  mentioned,  who  was  em- 
ployed there  in  1450.  No  hint  is  given  as  to 
his  locality,  but  if  he  was  a  veritable  founder 
he  was  probably  '  local.'  Under  1465  'A  man 
from  Ewelme  '  (Oxon.)  was  perhaps  a  bell-hanger 
or  carpenter,  rather  than  a  founder.  Dr.  Lee 
states  that  'The  Powells,  or  Ap  Powells,  of 
Buckingham,  had  been  likewise  employed  at 
Thame,  as  early  as  the  year  1503.'  In  the 
same  accounts  for  1548  '  Richarde  Hylton' 
purchased  the  great  bell  and  three  little  hand- 
bells, but  that  is  no  reason  why  he  need  have 
been  a  bell-founder. 

Beginning  in  December  1552,  the  name  of 
John  Appowell  appears  frequently  in  the  Records 
of  the  Borough  Court  of  Buckingham.  In  July 
1556,  he  is  first  described  therein  as  'Bel- 
founder.' 

In  the  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  Wing 
(Buckinghamshire)  for  1556,  is: — 

If  payde  for  ou'  coftp  at  buckyngam 

when  we  made  bargayne  for 

the  bell xxjV. 

II  payde  for  oure  coltf  at  )>"  caftynge 

of  the  bell iiij/.  \d. 

If  payd  to  the  bell  founder  .  .  iiij/7.  viij/.  \yl. 

Other  items  follow  proving  the  existence  of  a 
bell-foundry  in  Buckingham  at  the  above  date, 

"  Ch.  Bells  of  Bucks.  8  and  17. 

"MS.  B.M.  5181,  fol.  80,  and  three  other 
copies,  in  one  of  which,  No.  5867  (printed  1883), 
the  tincture  of  the  field  is  given  as  Gules. 

lu  This  exceptionally  interesting  volume  was  pre- 
sented to  the  library  of  the  Bucks.  Archit.  and 
Arch.  Soc.,  during  the  'fifties  of  last  century,  but 
had  disappeared.  Long  search  ultimately  resulted  in 
discovering  it  at  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  to 
which  it  had  been  sold  for  £20  !  It  was  eventually 
recovered  by  the  exertions  of  the  late  Messrs.  J. 
Parker  and  E.  J.  Payne,  and  the  present  writer  ;  but 
several  years  too  late  for  references  to  be  included  in 
the  Cb.  Belli  of  Bucks. 


but  mentioning  no  name  ;  but  in  the  following 
year's  account,  1557,  comes  :  — 

If  payde  to  John  appowell  for  the 

bell      ........     iijA    vj/.   viijV. 

According  to  the  above  Borough  Records,  he 
seems  to  have  been  continually  before  the  court, 
sometimes  as  plaintiff*,  sometimes  as  defendant,  in 
actions  to  recover  very  small  debts.14  He  was 
Bailiff  of  Buckingham  in  1559—60. 

In  the  Thame  Churchwardens'  Accounts  for 
the  year  ending  Ascensiontide,  1560,  is  :  — 

Ifm  payd   to   John    Appowell  for  Makyngc 

of  Certayne  Iren  about  the  bells  .     .     .       iijV. 

and  in  the  following  year's  account  is  :  — 

Itm  pd  to  John  Appowell  for  xv 
finale  barrf  of  Iren  for  the 
west  wyndow  in  the  Churche.  iij/.  \d. 

It  seems  very  probable  that  the  founder  may 
have  had  a  contemporary  namesake,  who  was  a 
blacksmith,  and  lived  at  Thame. 

In  the  Visitation  of  Buckinghamshire,  by  Wil- 
liam Harley  in  1566,  already  referred  to,  John 
Appowell  is  mentioned  among  the  '  Burgefses 
and  late  Baylifrs.' 

In  the  Thame  Churchwardens'  Accounts  for 
the  year  ending  Ascensiontide,  1567,  is  :  — 

Payd  to  John  Appowell  of  Buck- 
ingnm  the  bellfoundre  for 
Caftinge  of  the  bell  .  .  .  xliij/. 


with  confirmatory  entries  in  the  same  and  two 
following  years. 

In  1569  John  Appowell  served  the  office  of 
Bailiff  of  Buckingham  for  the  second  time,  and 
in  1572  he  was  churchwarden. 

In  the  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  Shillington, 
in  Bedfordshire,1'  for  the  year  1575,  the  foundry 
is  proved  to  have  been  in  existence  : — 

Payd  when  they  went  to  buckyng- 
ham  when  they  went  w'  the 
great  bell .... 


and  a  few  lines  further  on  :  — 

[George  Edwards]  He  laid  forthe 
at  buckingham  when  they 
went  w'  y*  bell  ..... 


xxijV. 


ij/.    iiijV. 


with  various  other  entries  concerning  the  trans- 
action, but  no  mention  of  the  founder's  name. 
John  Appowell  was  Bailiff  of  Buckingham  for 
the  third  time  in  the  year  beginning  i  May 
1576.  His  death  is  recorded  in  the  Bucking- 
ham Register,  thus: — 

1577  Johes  Appowel   grosj    et   Ballivus    Bucking 
fepultz  0  good  friday  bonus  dies  veneris. 


14  Detailed  in  Cb.  Bells  of  Bucks.  175  et  »eq. 
"  North,  Ch.  Belli  of  BeJs.  1 86. 


119 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


His  second  son  George  succeeded  to  the  bell- 
founding  business,  but  died  in  October  of  the 
following  year  (1578).  He  had  married  in 
February,  and  his  young  widow  evidently  only 
survived  him  a  few  days.  The  wills  of  both 
John  and  George  are  given  in  extenso  in  Church 
Bells  of  Bucks.,  and  many  other  details  con- 
cerning the  family,  including  mention  of  several 
persons  of  the  same  surname  living  at  Thame, 
and  glimpses  of  founders  of  the  same  (or  very 
similar)  name  working  in  London.  Probably 
two  generations  of  John  Appowell  appear  in  the 
Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  St.  Lawrence's, 
Reading,  from  1516,  and  one  or  two  other  un- 
important points  combine  to  make  it  likely  that 
John  Appowell  came  from  Reading,  and  had 
learnt  his  trade  at  the  old-established  foundry 
there.  No  bells  can  be  with  certainty  assigned 
to  him,  though  it  is  probable  that  bells  bearing 
a  portion  of  the  alphabet,  or  a  string  of  letters 
of  which  the  interpretation,  if  one  existed,  is 
lost,  in  one  or  other  of  two  sets  of  lettering 
or  a  mixture  of  both,  may  be  the  produce 
of  this  foundry.  They  are  at  Croughton 
(Northamptonshire),  Twyford,  Ickford,  Em- 


was  closed,  or  whether  another  Appowell  or  some 
one  else  whose  name  has  not  come  to  light 
carried  it  on  during  the  next  few  years,  is  un- 
known; but  before  long  two  young  men  who  had 
learnt  the  craft  in  the  celebrated  Leicester  foun- 
dry settled  at  Buckingham,  and  soon  got  together 
a  good  business.  On  7  February  15  80  Thomas 
Newcombe  II  of  the  Leicester  Foundry  was 
buried  at  that  town,  leaving  three  sons  and  a 
daughter,  and  also  an  apprentice  named  Bar- 
tholomew Atton, '  Tanner  and  Bellfounder '  (like 
his  master),  who  was  admitted  to  the  Merchants' 
Gild  of  Leicester  in  1582-3.  Robert  New- 
combe,  the  eldest  of  Thomas's  children,  and 
Bartholomew  Atton,  evidently  realizing  that 
other  members  of  the  Newcombe  family  had  the 
entire  trade  at  Leicester,  migrated  to  Buckingham 
as  partners,  and  set  up  for  themselves.  The  Wing 
Churchwardens' Accounts  for  1586  show  that  a 
bell  was  cast  for  that  parish  at  Buckingham, 
some  time  apparently  between  June  and  No- 
vember 1585,  but  the  name  of  the  founder  is 
not  mentioned.  At  Passenham,  Northampton- 
shire, but  only  6£  miles  from  Buckingham,  is  a 
bell  inscribed  in  the  large  florid  letters  associated 


Lr 


FIG.   i 


mington  (Oxfordshire),  Hulcott,  Bloxham  (Ox- 
fordshire), Little  Brickhill,  Tadley  (Hampshire), 
Milcombe  (Oxfordshire),16  and  doubtfully  a  few 
others.  One  of  the  sets  of  lettering  is  no  doubt 
much  older  than  John  Appowell,  and  the  initials 
of  the  original  owner  are  R.K. 

The  following  16th-century  bells  in  neigh- 
bouring counties  want  founders,  and  are  probably 
'  locals  '  : — The  treble  at  Finmere  (Oxfordshire), 
4  miles  from  Buckingham,  and  with  the  same 
lettering  the  treble  at  Midgham  (Berkshire),  1 1 
miles  south-west  of  Reading ;  the  saunce  at 
Streatley  (Berkshire),  10  miles  from  Reading; 
also  the  second  at  Aston  Tirrold,  and  the  third 
at  Padworth  ;  the  last  two  (both  in  Berkshire) 
have  the  same  lettering. 

The  oldest  dated  bell  in  Buckinghamshire  is 
the  single  at  Horsenden,  bearing  four  illegible 
letters,  ornamented,  but  apparently  completely 
worn  out  (fig.  i),  and  the  date  1582,  in  ex- 
tremely distinct  evenly-formed  figures.  It  is 
probably  of  '  local '  manufacture. 

What  happened  to  the  Buckingham  foundry 
on  the  death  of  George  Appowell,  whether  it 


16  Rubbing  kindly  lent  by  Mr.  A.  D.  Tyssen,  D.C.L. 


subsequently  with  the  Buckingham  foundry 
exclusively  : — 

+  A  +  TRVSTY  +  FRENDE  +  YS  +  HARDE 
+  TO  +  FYNDE  +  1585  +  +++++ 

and  at  Hoggeston  (about  9  miles  from  Bucking- 
ham) is  a  bell  similarly  inscribed,  except  that 
being  smaller  there  was  not  room  in  a  single  line 
for  the  whole  inscription,  so  the  last  word  was 
omitted,  the  inscription  ending  with  TO  and  the 
date,  the  latter  for  the  same  reason  is  stamped 
(as  to  its  first  three  figures)  above  the  final  orna- 
ment, and  the  unit  is  indistinct,  and  may  possi- 
bly be  3  instead  of  5.  This  inscription  points 
to  the  partnership,  and  the  lettering  came  from 
Leicester,  so  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
these  partners  began  work  at  Buckingham  not 
later  than  1585. 

At  Seaton,  Rutland,17  is  an  undated  bell  in- 
scribed in  the  same  lettering,  but  all  set  back- 
wards : — 

+  RYECHARDE  BENETLYE 
BELLFOVNDDER 

17  North,  Ch.  Bells  of  Rutland,  and  his  Ch.  Bells  of 

Northants. 


120 


INDUSTRIES 


As  this  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Leicester,  and 
as  the  name  appears  in  the  registers  of  Leicester, 
but  not  in  those  of  Buckingham,  Richard 
Bentley  was  evidently  founding  at  the  former 
town,  whether  on  his  own  account,  or  as  an 
assistant.  A  Richard  Bentley  was  married  at 
All  Saints*  in  that  town  in  1571,  and  four  chil- 
dren of  presumably  the  same  Richard  Bentley 
were  christened  there  between  1577  and  1585.'* 
Further  proof  of  the  origin  of  Bartholomew 
Alton  is  afforded  by  two  bells,1'  one  at  Treding- 
ton,  Worcestershire,  inscribed  in  ornate  capitals 
I  in.  high  : — 

+    BARTELMEW    ATON    ^cB? 

preceded  and  followed  by  a  cross  and  crown, 
which  are  known  marks  of  the  Newcombe  Foun- 
dry ;  the  other  bell  is  at  Baddesley  Clinton, 
Warwickshire,  and  is  inscribed  in  the  same  let- 
tering, with  Thomas  Newcombe's  shield. 

In  the  Churchwardens' Accounts  of  Wing  for 
the  year  ended  14  June  1590  is  the  earliest 
documentary  evidence  of  Bartholomew  Alton 
founding  bells  at  Buckingham  : — 

pd  vnto  Bartholomewe  Alton  of  Buck- 
yngam    for     the    caftyng    of    the 
fecund    bell    W    pultyng    in   ij    C   I   xfi. 
weyghl  of  new  mcttell  more  then 
the  old  bell  weyghed 

As  some  of  the  entries  referring  to  this  trans- 
action precede  the  charge  for  ringing  on  St. 
Hugh's  Day,  Alton  must  have  been  at  work  in 
Buckingham  before  November  1589.  At  Hard- 
wick  the  tenor,  dated  1590,  is  inscribed 

ROBART    MEWCOME    MADE    ME 

with  an  ornate  cross,  and  ihe  shield  (fig.  2) ; 
in  the  same  year,  the  tenor  at  Loughton,  and 
ihe  treble  at  Stoke  Hammond  have  the  other 


Fie.  2 

"In  the  Trans.  Leici.  Archil,  and  Arch.  Soe.  viii,  173 
(1896),  is  recorded  the  will  of  a  Richard  Bentley,  of 
Sharnford,  1582,  who  was  therefore  probably  not  the 
father  of  the  above  children. 

"  Ex  inform.  Mr.  H.  B.  Walters,  F.S.A. 


partner's  name,  which  continues  regularly  from 
that  year  to  appear  on  bells.  Robert  Newcombe 
was  buried  according  to  the  Buckingham  Parish 
Register  on  2  February  1591-2. 

In  1598  and  iwo  following  years,  Bartholo- 
mew's name  appears  several  times  among  the  lists 
of  burgesses  in  the  court  rolls  already  mentioned. 
In  1605  he  was  Bailiff  of  Buckingham.  A  bell 
at  Great  Horwood  dated  that  year  is  inscribed  in 
lettering  (togeiher  wilh  an  ornameni)  belonging 
to  this  foundry  : — B  A  R  A.  A  Robert  Atlon 
was  chamberlain  of  ihe  borough  of  Leicesler  in 
'592-3,  but  judging  by  ascertained  dates  it  seems 
likely  thai  he  was  father  lo  Bartholomew,  and  lhal 
Robert  ihe  bell-founder  whoappears  from  ihis  date 
was  a  son  of  Bartholomew.  The  Baptismal 
Regisier  of  Buckingham  is  missing  from  May 
1589  lo  March  1592-3,  during  which  interval 
some  of  Bartholomew's  children  were  probably 
born  ;  and  Robert  may  either  have  been  among 
ihe  number,  or  he  may  have  been  baptized 
before  his  parents  left  Leicester. 

Two  leaves*  from  the  Churchwardens'  Ac- 
counts of  Woodford  Halse,  Northanls,  were 
found  loose  in  an  old  book  purchased  al  a  sale  al 
Byfield  ;  one  of  ihem  dated  1609-10  enumer- 
ates certain  expenses  of  a  deputaiion  who 
personally  attended  ihe  casling  of  a  bell  : — 
Imprimis  payed  for  ihe  earring  of  the 

Bell  unto  Buckingham     ....     vu. 
It.  payed  for  alle  when  the  Bell  ware  a 

melting viijV. 

It.  payed  for  alle  when  the  Belle  ware 

a  running vjV. 

It.  payed  for  the  Berriying  of  the  Bell- 
founder       xj/. 

It.  payed  for  ale  when  the   Bell  ware  a 

taking  up  out  of  the  mold    .     .     .  vjV. 
It.  payed    Bell    money    unto    the    Bell- 
founders  men iij/.     iiijd. 

It.  payed  for  a   Band  making  that  wee 

did  take  of  the  Bellfounder  .     .     .  vjV. 

It.  payed  for  the  casting  of  the  Bell  .  .  liij/.  iiijd. 
It.  payyed  for  mettill  for  ihe  Bell  .  .  xlvij/.  iijd. 
It.  payed  for  our  charis  in  our  dial  in 

ling  Bockingame ziij/. 

As  ihe  negalive  evidence  of  ihe  Regislers 
goes  to  show  that  no  Buckingham  bell-founder 
died  just  when  the  deputation  from  Woodford 
Halse  were  seeing  their  bell  recast,  it  may  be 
that  '  burying  of  the  bell-founder '  is  a  slang 
term  meaning  a  big  drink  on  ihe  occasion." 

"  Transcribed  in  Northanti.  N.  and  Q.  (vol.  i, 
Northampton,  1886). 

"  '  Burying  a  wife '  is  a  feast  given  by  an  apprentice 
at  the  expiration  of  his  articles  (Halliwell,  Diet,  of 
Archaic  and  Provl.  Words).  In  the  above  quotation 
'earring'  is  not  an  accidental  mis-spelling,  but  the 
Buckinghamshire  pronunciation  of  the  word  to  the 
present  day  (and  no  doubt  the  Bedfordshire  as  well) ; 
a  '  Band '  is  of  course  a  Bond,  or  Agreement ; 
'charis'  probably  means  chargfs,  or  possibly  shares; 
and  '  ling '  no  doubt  wants  a  mark  of  abbreviation, 
and  means  leaving,  . 

121  l6 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


There  are,  however,  certain  changes  in  the 
lettering  used  on  bells  from  this  year,  and  the 
arabesque  (fig.  3)  makes  its  appearance  ;  and  the 
fact  of  Bartholomew's  name  appearing  on  a  few 
bells  of  later  date,  may  merely  be  an  early  in- 
stance of  the  common  modern  trade  practice  of  re- 
taining a  man's  name  in  the  title  of  the  firm  for 
years  after  his  death.  This  was  almost  certainly 
done  in  the  case  of  Robert,  a  few  years  later. 
A  bell  at  Chellington,  Bedfordshire,  has  : — 

ROBERT  n  ATTOH  n  MADE  n  MEE  a  1611  a 
W  ATTOM  a 

This  is  the  only 
bell  known  to 
bear  the  name  23 
of  W.  Atton, 
whose  baptism 
seems  to  be  re- 
corded by  the  fol- 
lowing entry  in 
the  Buckingham 
Register: — '1596 
September  Wm. 
films  Bartholomei 
Atton  decimo 
die.' 

He  probably 
discarded  bell- 
founding  in  favour 
of  a  draper's  busi- 
ness, and  served 
the  office  of  Bailiff 
of  Buckingham 
four  times,  dying 
in  October  1655. 
Of  his  two  sons 
who  survived  in- 
fancy one  was  cer- 
tainly, and  the 
other  with  little 
doubt,  a  draper, 
neither  having 

any  connexion  with  bell-founding. 

Bartholomew's  name  is  reported23  on  a  bell 

at  Paulerspury,  Northamptonshire,  dated  1613  ; 

on    one     at     Kidlington,     Oxfordshire,     dated 

1621  ; 24  on  one  at  Passenham,  Northampton- 


Fic.  3 


shire,  dated  1624  ;  and  on  one  formerly  at 
Blisworth,  Northamptonshire,  dated  1626.  All 
of  these  (except  perhaps  the  Kidlington  bell), 
have  also  Robert's  initials,  who  continued  bell- 
founding  until  1628,  in  which  year  the  Buck- 
ingham Register  records  that  he  was  buried  on 
6  May.  Robert  had  a  son  and  namesake,  but 
the  subsequent  history  of  the  business  leaves 
hardly  any  doubt  that  the  entry  refers  to  the 
elder  of  the  name. 

Dated  this  year  is  the  fourth  bell  at  Grand- 
borough,  inscribed  : — 

ROBERT  ATTON  NATHANIEL  BOLTTER 

and  ornamented  by  stamps  already  used  by  the 
Attons,  and  a  new  running  pattern  (fig.  4), 
which  forms  a  connecting  link  between  this 
foundry  and  the  Bagleys,  as  mentioned  a  little 
further  on.25 

There  was  formerly  a  similarly  dated  and 
inscribed  bell  at  Harpole,  Northamptonshire,  but 
the  devices  are  not  recorded.26 

Bolter  was  evidently  not  a  native  of  Bucking- 
ham. In  the  registers  of  All  Saints',  Leices- 
ter, is  an  entry  of  the  burial  of  a  William  Bolther 
in  1594-5.  Between  1654  and  1664  there  was 
a  Nathaniel  Bolter  at  the  Salisbury  bell-foundry, 
and  a  Jonathan  Bolter  there  in  1656. 

A  bell  at  Great  Horwood  and  another  at 
Tingewick,  dated  1623,  are  inscribed  in  one  of 
the  Atton  sets  of  letters,  ornamented  with  one 
of  their  roses  : — 

PRAYSE    YE    THE    LORDE    ALWAYSE 

The  same  inscription,  with  the  rose  again, 
but  wanting  the  last  word,  is  on  the  third  bell 
at  Grandborough  ;  and  a  bell  at  Edgcote,  and 
another  at  Paulerspury,  both  in  Northampton- 
shire, have  the  full  inscription  again,  but  the 
lettering  and  ornaments  are  not  stated.27  This 
inscription  on  five  bells  in  the  same  year,  and 
on  no  other  known  bell  from  this  foundry, 
suggests  that  some  one  besides  Robert  Atton 
had  a  hand  in  their  casting,  neither  his  name 
or  initials  being  on  any  of  them.  On  the 
Great  Horwood  bell  are,  in  addition,  the  initials 


FIG.  4. 

"  Mr.  North,  in  Bells  of  Beds,  mentions  a  bell  "  The  saunce  at  Chipping  Norton,  Oxon.  by  R.P. 

inscribed  w.  ATTON  &  SON.  but  this  is  shown  in  Bells  162^.,  hi>  this  running  pittern  (Ex  inform.  Mr.  H.  B. 

of  Bucks  (p.  208)  to  be  an  abso'.ute  illusion.  Walters,  F.S.A.). 

M  North,  Bells  of  Northants.  "  North,  Bills  of  Northnnts. 

"  Ex  Inform.  Mr.  A.  D.  Tyssen,  D.C.L.  "  Ibid. 

122 


INDUSTRIES 


(neither  pair  arc  the  rector's)  : — I  B  ,  G  V  ,  R  B. 
It  certainly  seems  probable  that  the  first  and  last 
pair  belong  to  Jonathan  and  another  Bolter. 
The  initials  N  B  appear  on  four  bells  at  Salis- 


foundry  at  Drayton  Parslow,  his  native  village, 
only  a  dozen  miles  from  Buckingham,  where  we 
may  conjecture  he  learnt  the  art.  Richard  was 
baptized  in  1601 -2  ;  and  there  is  a  bell  at 


FIG.  5 


bury,  in  conjunction  with  W  P  (William 
Purdue  II,  of  Salisbury),  in  1656,  and  on  two 
bells  at  Great  Durnford,  Wiltshire,  dated  the 
following  year.** 

The  arabesque  (fig.  5)  is  on  a  bell  at  Tinge- 
wick  by  Robert  Alton  in  1627. 

In  1630,  the  Buckingham  Register  records 
the  burial  of  Bartholomew  Alton  on  29  May, 
and  it  is  most  probable  thai  ihis  was  the  bell- 
founder  from  Leicester. 

No  bell  is  known  to  have  been  cast  at  this 
foundry  between  1628  and  1631,  in  which 
year  the  treble  at  Loughton  announces  that 
ROBERT  ATTON  MADE  ME,  and  the  fourth 
at  OIney,  for  the  first  and  only  time,  gives  his 
address:— ROBERT  ATTON  OF  BVCKING- 
HAM  MADE  ME,  and  with  other  ornaments 
already  used  has  a  new  shield  charged  with  three 
bells  (fig.  6). 

1633  saw  the  founding  of  the  last  two  bells 
at  Buckingham,  the  treble  at  Ashendon  bearing 
Robert's  initials,  and  the  tenor  at  Beachampton, 
inscribed  like  the  Loughton  bell  of  two  years 
previously. 

It  is  extremely  likely  that  Henry  Bagley  I, 
who  opened  his  foundry  at  Chalcombe  in  North- 
amptonshire, in  or  before  1632,  learnt  his 
business  at  the  Buckingham  foundry,  and  ob- 
tained thence  the  running  pattern  (fig.  4) 
noticed  on  the  bell  at  Grandborough  dated 
1628,  bearing  Nathaniel  Bolter's  name.  Mr. 
H.  B.  Walters  has  found  a  copy  of  the  shield 
first  used  at  Loughton  in  1631  (fig.  6),  having 
the  initials  I  M  added  in  the  field  on  either 
side  of  the  upper  bell,  used  by  a  Worcester 
founder,  John  Martin  (or  possibly  two  of  the 
same  name),  between  the  years  i644-93.w 

By  1636,  Richard  Chandler,  son  of  Anthony 
Chandler  a  blacksmith,  had  established  a  bell- 


"  Lukis,  Ch.  Bells. 

"  'The  Ch.  Bells  of  Worc«.'  Worci.  Dioc.  Arcblt. 
and  Arch.  S«r.  Rep.  1901  (Reprint,  p.  36),  and  'Some 
Note*  on  Worcs.  Bell-founders,'  Arch.  Journ.  btiii, 
'93 


Thornton,  with  nothing  but  the  date  1635, 
which  may  be  by  him,  although  none  of  the 
figures  certainly  correspond  with  his  known  set. 
RICHARD  CHAMDELER  1636  together  with 
four  little  ornaments,  was  on  bells  at  Grand- 
borough  (now  melted),  and  Stcwkley  (Bucks), 
Nettleden  (Herts,  formerly  Bucks.),  and  Milton 
Bryant  (Beds.),  the  last  only  bearing  two  out  of 
the  four  little  ornaments.  The  Nettleden  bell  in 
addition  has  an  interesting  survival  in  the  shape 
of  the  later  of  the  two  lion-head  stamps  which 
belonged  to  the  Wokingham-Reading  foundry, 
and  was  apparently  last  used  not  later  than 
1540.  Only  one  other  bell  by  Richard  is 
known — the  tenor  at  Cheddington  dated  1638, 
where  the  name  is  inscribed  twice  over,  and 
only  two  of  the  four  little  ornaments  were 
used. 

Richard  Chandler  died  in  June  of  that  year, 


Fie.  6 


123 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


and  his  will 30  was  proved  by  his  widow  Bridget 
on  the  22nd  of  the  following  November.  His 
eldest  son  Anthony  was  baptized  in  August 
1622,  and  was,  therefore,  probably  not  sixteen 
at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  Very  likely 
he  kept  the  smithy  going  with  the  help  of  a 
journeyman,  but  the  bell-foundry  appears  to  have 
ceased  until  1650,  when  he  cast  the  treble  at 
Simpson  (recently  melted),  which  was  quite  a 
curiosity  !  It  was  hardly  of  greater  diameter  at 
the  lip  than  at  the  shoulder,  while  the  waist, 
about  half-way  between  crown  and  lip,  was  of 
considerably  less  diameter.  It  was  inscribed,  as 
were  most  of  his  bells,  CHAMDLER  MADE  ME 
with  no  Christian  name  or  initial,  followed  by 
the  pattern  (fig.  7).  Orders  at  once  came  to 
him  in  steady  succession. 

Meanwhile  there  were  certainly  two  Richard 
Chandlers  connected  with  the  business  besides 
the  first  of  the  name  who  died  in  1638  as 
above  mentioned. 


figures  may  have  been  pressed  on  the  '  cope  '  in 
readiness  for  the  new  year  (though  then  not  be- 
ginning until  25  March)  before  his  death.  Two 
bells,  however,  respectively  dated  1 71 1  and 
1715,  inscribed  actually  on  the  waist,  maybe 
considered  as  antagonistic  to  the  theory.  A  few 
bells  dated  1651,  1654,  anc'  apparently  others 
in  i684,81  on  which  the  name  appears  as 
CHAHDELER  without  Christian  name,  may 
also  perhaps  indicate  his  workmanship.  How- 
ever this  may  be  with  regard  to  Richard 
Chandler  II,  his  nephew  and  namesake,  Richard 
III,  the  eldest  son  of  Anthony,  who  was  baptized 
15  December  1650,  evidently  became  partner 
with  his  father  on  completing  his  twenty-first 
year,  from  which  time  Anthony  distinguished  the 
bells  he  cast  by  the  addition  of  his  Christian 
name.  His  will33  is  dated  28  August  1679,  and 
was  proved  on  2 1  April  following,  so  an  entry  of 
burial  of  an  Anthony  on  i  September  1679 
evidently  refers  to  the  founder,  though  three 


Fie.  7 


FIG.  8 


In  1675  the  name  of  Richard  Chandler  be- 
gins again  on  bells,  and  this  seems  to  have  been 
Anthony's  elder  son,  whom  we  may  call 
Richard  III.  The  second  Richard  seems  to 
have  been  Anthony's  younger  brother,  and  never 
to  have  had  the  honour  of  inscribing  his  name  on 
a  bell,  but  his  work  is  possibly  recognizable  by 
the  expedient  of  the  inscription  (either  the  sur- 
name only,  or  with  Richard  prefixed)  being 
placed  on  a  few  bells  somewhat  lower  down  than 
usual,  generally  on  a  line  with,  and  taking  the 
place  of  portions  of,  the  '  rims '  ;  so  that  it  reads 
thus  : — 


ICHAUDLER: 


IMADE: 


:ME: 


He  was  buried  I  January  1704-5,  and 
though  the  latest  bell  inscribed  in  that  position 
(the  tenor  at  Wavendon)  is  dated  1705,  this  does 
not  necessarily  invalidate  the  theory,  as  the 


M  Given  at  length  in  Ch.  Bells  of  Bucks. 


other  Anthonies  are  recorded  as  buried  subse- 
quently at  Drayton. 

In  1 68 1  Anthony's  second  son  George  began 
placing  his  name  on  bells.  His  baptism  is  re- 
corded on  3  March  1654.  After  1683  his 
name  disappears  for  the  long  interval  of  nineteen 
years,  unless  Lipscomb  **  is  correct  in  saying  that 
he  cast  the  former  tenor  at  Wing  in  1687,  which 
was  unfortunately  exchanged  in  1863.  Begin- 
ning in  1683,  while  some  bells  bear  Richard's 
name,  numerous  others  bear  merely  the  surname 
(as  in  Anthony's  time),  which  Mr.  Stahlschmidt34 
suggested  represent  the  work  of  '  the  firm '  as 
opposed  to  a  particular  individual. 

The  pattern,  fig.  8,  was  used  by  '  the  firm  ' 
on  the  saunce  at  Beachampton  in  1695,  and  by 
Richard  at  Bicester  (Oxon.)  in  1715. 

31  Ch.  Bells  ofNorthants.  at  Stoke  Bruerne. 
"  Given  at  length,  Ch.  Bells  of  Bucks.  228. 

33  Hist,  of  Bucks,  iii,  527. 

34  Bells  of  Herts.  49. 


I24 


INDUSTRIES 


There  is  no  evidence  of  a  second  George 
Chandler  blossoming  into  a  bell-founder  by  1 702, 
when  the  name  reappears  on  bells :  and  it  seems 
quite  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  it  was  found 
that  the  two  Richards  (nephew  and  uncle)  were 
sufficient  to  manage  the  bell-founding,  and  that 
George  either  devoted  himself  to  the  smithy,  or 
may  have  migrated  elsewhere  in  pursuit  of  work  ; 
and  that  some  time  after  his  uncle  had  passed  his 
threescore  and  ten  years  it  was  found  advisable 
to  get  the  assistance  of  a  younger  man. 

1723  is  the  latest  date  on  which  the  name  of 
Richard  III  appears  on  a  bell,  and  the  saunce  at 
Emmington,  in  Oxfordshire,  is  inscribed  in  one 
of  George's  sets  of  lettering,  so  there  is  no 
question  of  its  foundry  :  T.  C.  1723.  This  must 
be  attributed  to  Thomas,  the  younger  brother  of 
Richard  III  and  George,  who  thus  made  his 
first  and  last  appearance. 

The  third  at  Stone,  by  '  the  firm,'  in  one  of 
George's  sets  of  lettering,  in  1726,  is  the  latest 
known  bell  bearing  the  name  Chandler  ;  Richard 
was  buried  on  27  April  of  that  year,  three  years 
after  the  appearance  of  his  last  bell.  George 
probably  then  left  the  village,  as  his  burial  does 
not  appear  in  the  register  of  his  native  parish,  nor 
in  that  of  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Stewkley, 
where  several  entries  of  this  surname  occur. 
Thomas  (younger  brother  of  Richard  III  and 
George),  was  buried  in  his  native  parish  in  1732. 

The  Drayton  Parslow  foundry  was  continued 
by  Edward  Hall,  who  had  in  all  probability  been 
previously  working  there.  He  may  have  been 
the  son  of  a  Henry  Hall  of  Stewkley,  but  nothing 
is  known  about  his  previous  history.  The  burial 
of  his  wife  Elizabeth  is  recorded  on  Christmas 
Day,  1733-4  according  to  one  register,  or 
1734-5  according  to  another  one;  and  on 
30  April  1741  he  married  Mary  the  widowed 
daughter  of  Richard  Chandler  II.  His  business, 
owing  no  doubt  to  the  gradual  concentration  of 
this  trade  in  the  large  businesses  of  London  and 
other  centres,  as  roads  improved,  was  evidently 
very  small — less  than  one  bell  a  year  so  far  as 
is  known  ;  and  at  last  comes  the  entry  in  the 
Drayton  Parslow  register  (in  the  rector's  hand- 
writing) : — 

(Buried)  Edward  Hall  poor  old  Bellfounder 
Feb.  9  1755. 

There  was  until  recently  at  Hillcsden  a  bell 
inscribed  : — 

W    HALL    MADE    ME    1756 

This  is  the  last  bell  known  to  have  been  cast 
at  this  foundry.  The  individual  is  not  men- 
tioned in  the  register  of  the  parish,  but  probably 
he  was  a  son  of  Edward,  born  before  his  father's 
migration  to  the  foundry. 

The  late  Rev.  T.  A.  Turner  mentions  "  being 

"  Records  of  Buckt.  ir,  125  (1872). 


told  by  an  old  man  named  Baldwin  that  he  in 
early  life  succeeded  in  the  village  smithy  business 
a  William  Hall,  who  it  was  suggested  was  a 
grandson  of  Edward,  but  it  seems  as  likely 
that  he  belonged  to  a  generation  later — that  is  a 
grandson  of  the  founder  William.  Baldwin  had 
met  with  various  bits  of  bell-metal,  metal  cast- 
ings, sand  and  other  things,  which  William  Hall 
had  told  him  his  grandfather  used  in  the  bell- 
foundry  business.** 

The  saunce  at  Westbury  seems  to  be  of  the 
time  of  Edward  III,  and  as  Westbury  is  only 
5  miles  from  Buckingham,  this  bell  should 
apparently  be  added  to  the  group  above  described. 

The  bell  in  the  clock  tower  at  Aylesbury  is 
blank,  but  is  undoubtedly  an  old  bell,  and  is 
probably  the  bell  mentioned  in  a  report  at  the 
Record  Office  dated  1555  as  having  come  from 
the  house  of  Friars  of  Aylesbury,  and  was  then 
used  as  the  market  bell  of  that  town.17  It  is 
probably  of  '  local '  origin. 

The  two  bells  at  Ibstone  are  probably  of  the 
1 8th  century,  and  are  more  likely  to  be  by  an 
itinerant  than  by  a  strictly  '  local '  founder. 

On  the  single  bell  at  Fingest  is  incised  : — 

J.    HOBBS    LANE    END       1830. 

He  was  an  iron-founder,  and  this  appears  to  be 
his  sole  attempt  at  bell-casting.  His  son,  Mr. 
Walter  Hobbs,  continued  the  iron-foundry  until 
his  death  in  1902,  when  the  business  was  pur- 
chased by  Mr.  Richard  Smith,  who  afterwards 
closed  the  works,  which,  however,  have  now 
been  re-opened. 

The  Fingest  bell,  no  doubt  from  a  want  of 
technical  knowledge  having  resulted  in  a  wrong 
gradation  in  the  various  degrees  of  thickness, 
sounds  at  a  distance  as  if  it  were  cracked,  but  as 
one  approaches  it  is  found  that  the  bell  is  quite 
sound,  but  is  badly  out  of  tune  with  itself.  If 
the  crooks  used  to  form  the  core  and  cope  are 
scientifically  shaped,  so  as  to  ensure  the  correct 
thicknesses  throughout  the  bell,  it  should  give, 
when  lightly  struck,  the  key-note,  third,  fifth, 
and  octave  at  the  respective  distances  up  the  side; 
and  when  struck  a  full  blow  (as  by  the  clapper) 
on  the  sound-bow,  the  common  chord  results  ; 
if  therefore  the  thickness  at  any  part  is  incorrect, 
the  bell  becomes  out  of  tune  with  itself  (and 
many  bells  are  slightly  so). 

The  saunce  at  Hardwick,  besides  the  names 
of  the  churchwardens,  bears  : — 

1850.     S.    SEYMOUR,    AYLESBURY 

He  was  an  ironmonger  in  that  town,  and  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  he  did  not  cast  it 
himself. 

"  Cb.  Belli  ofButkt.  237. 

"  Ld.  Rev.  Rec.  bdle.  1392,  file  10. 


125 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 

IRON-FOUNDRIES,    SHIPBUILDING    AND 
RAILWAY    WORKS 


In  1772  Wyrardisbury  mill  was  tenanted  by 
Jukes  Colson,  who  worked  it  as  an  iron  mill,  but 
five  years  later  it  had  been  turned  into  a  copper 
mill  by  the  Gnoll  Company.1  The  mill  was  again 
sold  in  1790,  and  was  tenanted  early  in  the 
i  gth  century  by  George  and  Thomas  Glascott, 
who  were  brass-founders.  They,  however,  closed 
their  works  in  1820,  and  the  mill  has  since  been 
converted  into  a  paper-mill.  A  mill  at  Horton 
was  also  at  one  time  used  for  iron  works,  but 
these  were  closed  early  in  the  igth  century.2 
In  1831  only  eleven  men  were  returned  as  being 
employed  as  iron-founders,3  either  as  masters  or 
workmen,  but  thirty-four  were  employed  at 
copper  mills.  In  the  middle  of  the  i  gth  cen- 
tury several  foundries  were  established.  The 
Castle  Iron  Works  were  started  at  Buckingham 
in  1857,  and  were  owned  by  a  limited  liability 
company,  the  shareholders  being  mostly  local 
people,4  anxious  to  improve  the  trade  of  the 
town.  The  foundry  was  chiefly  occupied  in 
making  steam-engines  of  various  kinds.  Certain 
road  engines  were  made  there  which  acquired  a 
considerable  amount  of  importance  at  the  time. 
In  1858  a  road  locomotive  was  built  for  the 
Marquis  of  Stafford,  which  attained  to  the  speed 
of  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  a  few  years  later 
the  foundry  produced  a  steam  carriage  for  export 
to  Belgium,  which  held  three  passengers  as 
well  as  the  stoker.  It  averaged  ten  miles  an 
hour,  but  on  good  roads  could  attain  to  sixteen, 
and  its  inventor,  Mr.  Thomas  Rickett,  the 
manager  of  the  Castle  Iron  Works,  drove  it  in 
1860  to  Windsor,  where  it  was  inspected  by 
Queen  Victoria.6  Various  machines  for  agri- 
cultural purposes  were  also  made,  a  locomotive 
steam  cultivator  being  exhibited  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  at  Chester  in 
1858. 

Another  engineering  business,  known  as  the 
Watling  Works,  was  started  at  Stony  Stratford 
about  the  same  time  as  the  Castle  Iron  Works 
at  Buckingham.  The  position  of  the  little  town 
on  the  Grand  Junction  Canal  gave  it  better 
means  of  communication,  and  the  business  is 
still  carried  on  at  the  present  day.6  In  1845  tne 
late  Mr.  Edward  Hayes  started  the  works  for 
general  engineering,  but  gradually  the  business 
has  become  confined  to  the  building  of  steam 

1  Gyll,  Hist.  ofWraysbury,  72. 
1  Ibid.  198. 

*  Pop.  Ret.  (1831),  i,  34. 
4  Sheahan,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Bucks,  231—2. 
6  lllus.  Lond.  News,  n  Feb.  1860,  with  illustration. 
6  From  information  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  Edward 
Hayes. 


126 


yachts,  tugs  and  launches.  These  are  exported 
to  all  parts  of  the  world  '  for  steamers  and 
machinery  of  various  descriptions  have  been 
built  for  the  British  Admiralty,  Crown  Agents 
for  the  Colonies,  the  Board  of  Works,  Trinity 
House  Pilots,  the  Shah  of  Persia,  the  Sultan  of 
Morocco,'  besides  various  foreign  governments 
and  well-known  shipping  lines.  '  During  the 
late  South  African  War  a  little  steamer  destined 
to  work  in  connexion  with  the  landing  of  troops 
and  stores  actually  steamed  from  the  place  she 
was  launched,  the  Old  Stratford  Wharf,  which 
is  a  branch  of  the  Watling  Works,  along  the 
Grand  Junction  Canal  to  the  Thames  and  thence 
to  Delagoa  Bay,  South  Africa.'  In  Stony  Strat- 
ford it  is  not  an  unusual  sight  '  to  see  one  of 
these  steamers  being  drawn  on  large  eight-wheel 
trolleys  by  a  powerful  traction  engine  '  from  the 
Watling  Works,  where  they  are  built,  to  the 
wharf  half  a  mile  away,  and  often  followed  by 
its  engine  and  boiler  on  separate  trolleys.  In 
1 86 1  a  display  was  given  at  the  works  of  a 
patent  steam  windlass  for  which  Mr.  Hayes  had 
obtained  high  honours  at  an  exhibition  at  Leeds, 
and  the  firm  have  since  been  equally  successful 
at  later  exhibitions.  The  steamers  originally 
built  for  the  river-side  work  of  the  Metropolitan 
Fire  Brigade  came  from  the  Watling  Works, 
and  the  present  Mr.  Edward  Hayes  has  taken 
out  numerous  patents  for  improving  steamers, 
one  of  the  most  recent  being  '  for  cheapening 
and  facilitating  the  exportation  of  small  steamers 
abroad,  making  it  possible  to  erect  steamers  at 
the  site  of  their  work  and  where  only  unskilled 
native  labour  can  be  obtained.'  Other  iron  and 
brass-foundries  are  worked  at  the  present  day  at 
Maidenhead,  Horton,  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  Looseley 
Row,  Chesham,  and  Walton  (Aylesbury). 

At  Slough  there  is  also  a  large  firm  of  manu- 
facturing ironmongers  and  engineering  contractors 
whose  business  was  established  in  i8l5-7 

The  Wolverton  works,  belonging  to  the  Lon- 
don and  North  Western  Railway,  give  employment 
to  a  large  number  of  people  in  the  neighbour- 
hood and  date  from  the  earliest  days  of  the 
railway.8  When  it  was  opened  in  1 838  as  the 
London  and  Birmingham  Railway  the  works 
were  started  for  building  engines,  and  were 
purely  locomotive  works  until  1865.  At  that 
time  Wolverton  Station  was  of  great  importance, 
all  trains  stopping  there,  and  descriptions  of  its 
magnificence  figure  largely  in  accounts  of  the 

'  Letter  from  Messrs.  Mark  Duffield  &  Sons,  Ltd. 
High  Street,  Slough. 

8  Description  of  the  London  and  North  Western 
Railway  Company's  Carriage  Works  at  Wolverton,  1 907. 


INDUSTRIES 


county  written  in  the  middle  of  the  I  gth  century. 
Around  the  station  and  works  sprang  up  two 
new  villages,  New  Bradwell  and  New  Wolver- 
ton,  inhabited  entirely  by  the  employees  of  the 
railway  and  tradesmen  supplying  their  needs. 
In  1840  about  four  hundred  hands  were  em- 
ployed, but  in  the  next  twenty  years  the  numbers 
had  increased  to  between  2,300  and  2,400  and 
the  factory  contained  brass  and  iron-foundries, 
shops  for  erecting,  repairing,  and  fitting  engines, 
and  for  making  boilers,  &c.* 


In  1 860,  however,  a  change  was  decided  upon 
resulting  in  the  conversion  of  the  Wolverton 
works  into  carriage  works,10  and  the  removal  of 
the  engine  factories  to  Crewe.  The  removal 
took  place  between  1865  and  1877  and  since 
that  time  the  works  have  grown  beyond  recog- 
nition, and  contain  shops  for  building  carriages 
and  all  their  accessories  and  also  for  repairing 
them,  covering  in  all  about  eighty  acres  of  land 
and  employing  about  four  thousand  five  hundred 
hands. 


NEEDLE-MAKING 


The  village  of  Long  Crendon  was  long 
celebrated  for  an  extensive  manufactory  of 
needles.  There  is  considerable  doubt  as  to  the 
date  of  the  introduction  of  needle-making  into 
England,  the  tradition  being  that  an  '  Indian  ' 
first  brought  the  art  to  London  about  1545,  but 
that  it  died  out  with  him.1  It  must,  however, 
shortly  have  been  revived,  for  it  seems  to  have 
been  brought  to  Long  Crendon  about  1560  by 
one  Christopher  Greening.*  In  some  accounts, 
a  Mr.  Damer,  a  member  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
family,  is  said  to  have  settled  the  Greenin:;  family 
in  the  village  in  1650,'  but  this  is  most  prob- 
ably merely  a  confusion  in  the  date,  since  the 
Greenings  had  then  lived  there  for  nearly  a  hun- 
dred years. 

A  Christopher  Greening  lived  at  Long  Cren- 
don in  1558*  ;  from  1556  to  1568  he  was  also 
churchwarden  and  drew  up,  with  John  Padnoll, 
the  first  parish  register  book  preserved  there.' 
Another  Christopher,  the  son  of  John  Greening, 
was  born  in  1587,'  and  against  his  name  is  a 
later  marginal  note  saying,  '  this  man  first  brought 
out  needle-making.7 '  Probably  he  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  first  needle-maker,  but  having  the  same 
Christian  name,  later  tradition  confused  the  two 
Christopher  Greenings. 

Other  accounts  say  that  needles  were  made  in 
the  village  before  Greening's  arrival,  but  that  he 
was  of  some  importance  in  the  trade  and  hence 
its  introduction  was  attributed  to  him.8 

The  chief  family  of  needle-makers  were  the 
Shiimptons,  many  of  whom  lived  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  High  Wycombe  and  were  officers 
of  the  borough.'  In  the  i8th  century  the  trade 
was  flourishing.  When  a  sufficient  quantity  of 

*  Sheahan,  Hist,  and  Topog.  of  Bucks.  647. 
10  Carriage  Works  at  Wolverton. 

1  Home  Counties  Mag.  vi,  184. 
'  Ibid. 

*  Chambers1  Journ.  17  May  1856. 
'  Lay  Subs.  R.  ,%. 

5  Home  Counties  Mag.  vi,  185. 
1  Ibid.  '  Ibid. 

"  W.  Shrimpton,  Notes  an  a  Decayed  Needle-land, 
9-27.  •  Ibid. 


needles  had  been  made,  a  journey  to  London 
was  undertaken  by  one  of  the  more  important 
manufacturers.  He  took  from  seven  to  ten  days, 
going  by  the  stage-coach  from  Oxford.  The 
goods  had  been  first  conveyed  to  Tetsworth, 
where  the  coach  was  met  and  the  needle-maker 
was  accompanied  by  armed  men  for  his  protection. 
This  was  more  especially  needed  on  the  return 
journey,  when  he  bought  back  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  for  the  wages  of  the  workmen. 
A  stock  of  wire  was  also  brought  back,  part 
payment  for  the  needles  often  being  made  in 
wire,  which  was  difficult  to  procure  direct  from 
Birmingham.  In  1736,  the  needles  were  chiefly 
made  in  the  living  rooms  of  the  workers,  but 
later  factories  were  built,  one  of  which  is  still 
standing  in  the  village  of  Long  Crendon.10 

At  the  beginning  of  the  igth  century  the 
chief  manufacturers  bore  the  names  of  Harris, 
Shrimpton  and  Johnson.11  The  processes  em- 
ployed were  extremely  primitive ;  everything 
was  done  by  hand  labour,  no  stamps  were  used, 
and  the  methods  of  pointing  made  that  part  of 
the  trade  at  least  very  injurious  to  the  health  of 
needle-makers.  The  fame  of  Redditch  needles 
was  beginning  to  grow  and  the  Long  Crendon 
manufacturers  felt  the  pressure  of  competition 
in  the  market.  They  seem  to  have  taken  no 
steps,  however,  to  meet  it  or  to  improve  their 
methods.  They  never  employed  the  water- 
power  at  Notley  Mill  and  were  very  late  in 
introducing  machinery  of  any  kind.  In  some 
ways  the  position  of  Redditch  gave  it  an 
advantage  over  Long  Crendon,  particularly  from 
being  near  Birmingham,  but  the  Shrimptons 
had  many  opportunities  of  improving  their 
trade,  of  which  they  never  took  advantage. 
London  merchants  offered  money  so  that  new 
machinery  might  be  set  up  and  the  workshops 
improved,  but  the  Crendon  manufacturers  had 
been  so  long  without  encountering  competition 
that  they  were  utterly  unprepared  to  meet  the 
new  conditions  of  the  industry.  They  seem  to 


"  Home  Counties  Mag.  vi,  1 84. 

"  Shrimpton,  Notes  on  a  Decayed  Needle-land,  14. 


127 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


have  given  far  more  attention  to  all  the  pastimes 
of  the  countryside,  bull-baiting,  cock-fighting 
and  boxing,  than  to  their  business.  Hence  the 
Long  Crendon  needle-trade  gradually  died  out 
and  the  trade  in  sewing  needles  was  practically 
lost. 

Several  makers  made  a  speciality  of  large 
needles,  however  ;  sail  and  packing  and  netting 
needles  were  made  in  considerable  quantities,  and 
a  revival  of  the  trade  took  place  about  1848. 
A  John  Harris  had  set  up  for  himself  and  was 
more  energetic  in  business  than  others ;  machinery 
was  also  introduced  by  him  and  some  of  the 
Shrimptons.  A  London  firm,  Kirby  Beard  &  Co., 
started  a  factory  at  Crendon,  where  they  had 
long  been  customers  of  the  needle-makers.  The 
lack  of  railway  communication,  however,  proved 
fatal  to  their  undertaking,  and  in  1862  they 


moved  to  Redditch,  taking  with  them  four-fifths 
of  the  needle-makers.  Almost  immediately 
afterwards  the  railway  was  opened  to  Thame, 
but  it  was  too  late  to  affect  the  manufacture  at 
Long  Crendon,  and  even  the  trade  of  large 
needles  was  obtained  by  the  Redditch  makers. 

Emigration  had,  however,  been  going  on  slowly 
for  many  years;  as  early  as  1824,  Jonas 
Shrimpton  journeyed  to  Alcester,  Studley,  and 
Redditch  to  observe  the  state  of  the  manufacture 
there.  He  advised  the  Crendon  makers  to 
bestir  themselves,  but  nothing,  as  has  been  said, 
was  done,  and  some  of  the  younger  men 
migrated  in  the  next  few  years.  Even  in  1861, 
while  Kirby  Beard  &  Go's,  factory  was  still  open, 
the  population  of  the  village  was  declining,  the 
cause  being  migration  of  the  needle-makers  to 
seek  work  in  other  parts  of  the  country.12 


TEXTILE    INDUSTRIES 


A  considerable  amount  of  wool  was  grown 
in  Buckinghamshire  as  early  as  the  I3th  cen- 
tury and  consequently  many  men  were  engaged 
in  the  wool  trade.  The  wool  grown  by  the 
monks  at  Biddlesden,  Ankerwyke,  and  Notley  is 
mentioned  by  Pegolotti.1  Buckingham  was  a 
staple  town  for  wool  in  the  time  of  Edward  III, 
till  the  staple  was  removed  to  Calais.  It  was 
then  amongst  the  towns  which  petitioned  Parlia- 
ment in  1525  for  relief,  their  trade  having  been 
destroyed.1*  In  the  xyth  century  Buckingham 
still  seems  to  have  been  a  centre  of  the  trade,  and 
possessed  both  a  wool  hall  and  wool  market,  the 
profits  belonging  to  Christ's  Hospital,  founded  by 
Queen  Elizabeth.2  In  1731,  these  profits  only 
amounted  to  ^5  a  year.3  A  wool  fair  was  also 
held  at  Great  Marlow,  but  it  fell  into  disuse  in 
the  first  half  of  the  i  gth  century. 

Wool  merchants  in  the  i6th  century  were, 
however,  sternly  repressed,  no  individual  being 
allowed  to  buy  more  wool  than  he  could  weave 
himself.  In  1577  the  '  broggers'  of  wool  were 
bound  over  in  £100  apiece,  'that  neither  they 
nor  their  heirs  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  buy  or 
bargain  any  manner  of  wools  that  grow  or 
hath  grown  within  the  county  of  Buckingham, 
but  only  such  quantity  of  wools  as  they  by 
themselves  or  their  apprentices  shall  yearly  make 
in  his  own  mansion  house.'  *  The  cloth  trade 
never  assumed  very  large  proportions  in  the 
county,  but  a  certain  amount  of  weaving  and 
fulling  was  done,  presumably  for  local  use. 

11  Pop.  Ret.  1 86 1. 

1  Cunningham,  The  Growth  of  Engl.  Indus,  and 
Commerce,  i,  629. 

la  Browne  Willis,  Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  the  Town,  Hund. 
and  Deanery  of  Buckingham  (1755),  46. 

1  Ibid.  86.  "  Ibid. 

4  S.P.  Dom.  Eliz.  cxv,  28. 


Early  in  the  I4th  century  the  governing  body 
of  the  borough  of  Wycombe  tried  to  attract  the 
trade  to  their  town  by  remitting  a  tax  on  looms.6 
The  effort  seems  to  have  been  successful,  and  the 
records  of  the  borough  contain  many  orders  with 
regard  to  weaving,  fulling  and  dyeing.8  These 
trades  were  gradually  limited  to  the  burgesses  of 
the  borough,  foreigners  being  forbidden  to  carry 
them  on  without  making  a  heavy  payment. 
Even  amongst  the  town  craftsmen  there  were 
strict  rules  for  their  government.7  Besides  ap- 
prenticeship rules,  no  one  man  might  carry  on 
more  than  one  of  the  three  trades  at  the  same 
time.8  Early  in  the  I7th  century  foreign 
craftsmen  paid  6d.  for  every  loom  working,  but 
how  often  the  fine  was  to  be  paid  was  not 
specified.  The  increasing  strictness  of  these 
orders  was  probably  due  to  the  failing  condition 
of  the  cloth  trade.  In  1623  this  was  commented 
on  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  the  Mayor 
of  Wycombe  9  and  the  poor  in  the  town  suffered 
a  great  deal  of  misery. 

The  fullers  seem  to  have  suffered  even  earlier 
from  the  loss  of  their  trade.  Various  fulling 
mills  are  mentioned  in  accounts  of  the  bailiffs  of 
manors  in  the  I4th  and  I5th  centuries,10  but  in 
the  following  century,  for  instance,  at  Taplow, 
when  the  mills  were  rebuilt  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  certain  old  fulling-mill  stock  was 
found.  Many  years  later  a  witness,  in  an  inquisi- 
tion taken  in  1613  about  these  mills,  suggested 
that  the  name  of  an  eyot  or  island  in  the  Thames 
called  '  Tenter  Eight  '  took  its  name  from  the 


Ibid. 


6  Wycombe  Borough  Records. 
•  Ibid.  7  Ibid. 

9  S.P.  Dom.  Jas.  I,  cxlii,  44. 

10  Mins.  Accts.  bdle.  761,  no.  4  ;  bdle  763,  no.  9  ; 
bdle.    653,    no.    10565  ;     bdle.    654,    no.     10577  > 
bdle.  655,  no.  10597. 


128 


INDUSTRIES 


tentering  of  cloth.11  Moreover,  at  Newport 
Pagnell  a  fulling-mill  had  existed  at  one  time, 
but  it  had  been  converted  into  a  grist  mill  before 
1623.  Weaving  was  still  a  trade  of  the  town, 
since  George  Fynnall,  a  weaver,  gave  evidence 
about  the  mills  at  that  date.u  At  High 
Wycombe  a  fulling-mill,  known  as  Gosham's 
mill,  was  working  at  this  time,  and  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Raunce.13 
Buckinghamshire  sheep  and  rams  were  famous 
throughout  the  I7th  century,  but  more  for  their 
size  than  their  wool,14  and  the  local  cloth  trade 
seems  to  have  gradually  disappeared.  Sacking 
was  also  manufactured  in  the  ijth  century. 
The  paupers  in  the  workhouse  at  Aylesbury 1§ 
were  mainly  employed  in  spinning  hemp.  Their 
yarn  was  either  sold  or  sent  to  the  weavers,  and 
afterwards  the  overseers  of  the  poor  sold  the 
manufactured  article."  Sacking  was  probably 
made  throughout  the  i8th  century,  but  in 
1831,"  only  forty  men  were  employed  in 
making  mats  and  sacking. 

Silk-weaving  was  carried  on  in  Buckingham- 
shire for  some  years  during  the  igth  century. 
A  large  mill  was  established  at  Tring  in  1824  by 
Mr.  William  Kaye  of  Tring  Park.18  It  was  first 
worked  by  Mr.  Joseph  Kaye,  but  he  afterwards 
moved  to  Manchester.  On  his  death  the  Lan- 
cashire factory  was  given  up  and  his  manager 
RobertNixon  was  thus  thrown  out  of  employment. 
He  determined  to  set  up  a  silk-mill  at  Aylesbury 
in  connexion  with  the  Tring  mill  and  further, 
made  an  agreement  with  the  Aylesbury  overseers, 
who  were  in  great  need  of  employment  for  the 
parish  paupers  in  the  workhouse.  The  numbers 
there  were  rapidly  increasing,  and  the  decline  of 
the  lace  trade  left  the  overseers  with  no  means  of 
giving  them  work.  The  latter  undertook  to 
build  a  silk  factory  on  part  of  the  workhouse 

"  Exch.  Dep.  by  Com.  East.  10  Jas.  I,  no.  14. 

"  Exch.  Spec.  Com.  no.  3596. 

11  Chan.  Inq.  p.m.  (S«r.  2),  ccclxxxvi,  no.  100. 

14  Fuller,  Worthies  of  England  (ed.  Nuttall),  193. 

'*  Aylcsbury  Overseers'  Acct  w  Ibid. 

17  Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  34. 

"  Gibbs,  Hiit,  of  AyUsburj,  624. 


premises  in  Oxford  Road,  and  to  spend  £200  on 
it,  Nixon  promising  on  his  part  not  to  employ 
any  hands  but  paupers  chargeable  on  Aylesbury 
parish.  Forty  looms  were  set  up  in  1830,  but 
probably  women  were  employed  for  the  most 
part,  since  in  1831  "  there  were  only  30  male 
silk  weavers  in  the  county.  The  mill  afterwards 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Evans,  who  had 
for  many  years  worked  the  Tring  mill.10 
They  first  bought  part  of  the  workhouse  premises 
in  1844,  and  in  1859,  the  original  parish  mill. 
Soon  afterwards  2OO  hands,  mostly  girls,  were 
employed,  and  steam-power  had  been  introduced. 
In  1885  there  were  70  steam  looms  at  the  Ayles- 
bury mill.  The  actual  weaving  was  the  only 
process  carried  on  there,  none  of  the  earlier  pro- 
cesses being  undertaken. 

Branches  of  the  Tring  and  Aylesbury  mill  were 
set  up  near  the  latter  town.  At  Waddesdon  a 
mill  was  established  in  1843.  It  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  village,  and  in  1862  employed  some 
40  women,  but  only  hand-looms  were  used.  A 
smaller  mill  was  also  worked  at  Whitchurch.11 

Silk  was  manufactured  at  Wyrardisbury  mill  n 
about  the  time  that  the  Aylesbury  mill  was  estab- 
lished, while  silk  and  shawl  printing  was  carried  on 
at  the  neighbouring  town  of  Horton.  The  latter 
works  were  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Tippets  &  Co., 
who  employed  about  60  persons,  but  in  1859  a 
decline  of  trade  made  them  close  their  works,  and 
the  buildings  and  stock  were  sold  by  auction. 

Cotton  mills  also  existed  in  Buckinghamshire.^ 
the  close  of  the  i8th  century.  At  Iver  and  Tap- 
low  visitors  were  appointed  by  the  justices  of  the 
peace  in  1802  under  an  Act  of  42  Geo  III  to 
inspect  the  cotton  mills  there.88  At  Amersham 
another  cotton  factory  was  working  in  1825  ; I4  it 
employed  many  of  the  inhabitants  but  no  cotton 
weavers  are  returned  in  the  census  of  1831." 

"Pop.  Ret.  1831,  i,  34. 

"  Gibbs,  Hut.  of  Aylesburj,  624. 

"  Sheahan,  Hist,  and  Tofog.  of  Bucks.  429,  772. 

n  Gyll,  Hut.  ofWrajsbury,  72,  198. 

**  Quarter  Sessions  Records,  1802. 

"  Pinnock,  Hist,  and  Tofog.  of  Engl.  i,  25. 

»  Pop.  Ret.  1831,1,34. 


129 


'7 


FORESTRY 


I 


authentic  history  of  the  woods  of 
Buckinghamshire '  may  be  said  to 
begin  with  the  Domesday  Survey, 
in  which  the  general  distribution  of 
woods  throughout  the  county  is 
strikingly  manifested.  In  this  county  the  com- 
missioners estimated  the  extent  of  the  woodlands 
by  certifying  how  many  swine  could  be  sus- 
tained ori  its  acorns  and  beech  mast,  and  it 
is  quite  obvious  from  these  returns  that  con- 
siderable woods  were  to  be  found  in  every 
direction.  Taking  the  larger  woods,  which  were 
sufficiently  extensive  to  support  500  swine  or 
upwards,  we  find  they  run  as  follows : — Wen- 
dover,  2,OOO  ;  Chesham,  1,600  ;  Lillingstone, 
1,200  ;  Marlow  and  Princes  Risborough,  1,000 
each  ;  Oakley,  806  ;  Marsworth  and  Iver,  800 
each  ;  Taplow,  700  ;  Chalfont  St.  Peter,  Burn- 
ham,  Farnham,  and  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  600  each  ; 
and  Wraysbury,  High  Wycombe,  Stoke  Poges, 
Missenden,  and  Hampden,  500  each.  These 
places  are  to  be  found  north,  south,  east,  and 
west,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  county.  The 
swine-feeding  powers  of  the  woods  throughout 
Domesday  are  almost  invariably  expressed  in  round 
numbers.  There  is  however  a  curious  exception 
to  the  rule  in  this  county.  The  woodland  of 
Akeley  is  said  to  have  found  sustenance  for  806 
swine  (octingentis  porch  et  vj)  ;  such  an  entry  as 
this  is  a  corroboration  of  the  theory  that  the 
extant  Domesday  is  a  condensed  summary  of  the 
actual  returns,  and  that  the  original  detailed 
return  has  in  this  case  been  accidentally  retained. 
There  are  two  references  to  the  royal  forest  of 
Bernwood.  Brill  (Erunhelle\  on  the  confines  of 
Oxfordshire,  is  named  as  a  manor  of  King 
Edward's;  under  this  manor  jCi2  is  entered  as 
the  annual  issue  of  the  forest.  Oakley  was  in 
the  same  forest,  and  it  is  entered  that  the  wood- 
land would  feed  200  swine,  'save  that  it  is  the 
king's  park  in  which  it  lies.' 

At  Long  Crendon,  adjoining  Oakley  and 
Brill,  Walter  Giffard  had  a  park  for  beasts  of 
venery  (parcus  bestiarum  silvaticarum\  which  is  a 
truer  forest  translation  than  beasts  of  the  chase. 

1  Camden  considered  that  the  very  name  Buckingham 
meant  the  beechen  village,  owing  to  the  number  and 
•ize  of  its  beech  trees,  from  boccen  or  buecen,  derived 
from  bat,  a  beech  tree.  Although  this  derivation  has 
been  doubted  by  Lysons  and  Lipscombe,  its  accuracy 
is  still  maintained  by  several  modern  etymologists. 


The  four  beasts  of  venery,  the  hart,  wolf,  wild 
boar,  and  hare,  were  sy/vestres,  that  is,  they  spent 
their  days  in  the  woods,  and  were  taken  by  what 
was  considered  true  hunting,  being  tracked  or 
roused  by  the  lymers  and  lymer  hounds  (corre- 
sponding to  the  modern  tufters  of  the  Devon 
and  Somerset  Staghounds),  and  afterwards  pur- 
sued by  the  pack.  The  beasts  of  the  chase  were 
termed  campestres,  that  is,  they  were  found  in  the 
open  country  by  day  and  therefore  required  none 
of  the  niceties  of  tracking  and  harbouring  in 
thicket  and  coverts,  but  were  roused  straight  away 
by  the  hounds ;  these  were  the  fallow  and  roe 
deer,  with  the  fox  and  martin.* 

So  far  as  Buckinghamshire  was  concerned  with 
royal  forests  the  position  was  distinctly  peculiar. 
The  shire  had  no  large  forest  of  its  own  entirely 
within  its  bounds,  but  it  shared  portions  of  four 
distinct  forests  with  adjacent  counties,  namely 
Windsor,  Whittlewood,  Salcey,  and  Bernwood. 

The  smallest  of  these  shares  was  that  of 
Windsor  in  the  south  of  the  county.  Parts  of 
the  parishes  of  Datchet,  Langley  Marish,  Slough, 
and  Eton,  on  the  Bucks  side  of  the  Thames, 
immediately  opposite  Windsor  and  the  present 
Home  Park,  were  for  many  generations  considered 
part  of  Windsor  Forest.  At  the  present  day 
293  acres  of  meadow  and  other  land  in  Datchet, 
abutting  on  the  Thames,  are  Crown  lands,  as  well 
as  upwards  of  2OO  acres  at  Eton. 

The  forest  of  Whittlewood  lay  chiefly  in 
Northamptonshire,  but  a  considerable  section 
overlapped  into  the  north-western  district  of 
Buckinghamshire,  including  the  parishes  of  Lil- 
lingstone Lovell,  Lillingstone  Dayrell,  and  parts 
of  Biddlesden,  Akeley,  and  Stowe.  All  that 
remained  of  Whittlewood  Forest  in  this  county 
in  1792  was  220  acres  in  Lillingstone  Dayrell, 
which  was  included  in  Wakefield  Walk.  It  was 
not  until  August  4,  1853,  that  the  much-re- 
stricted area  of  old  Whittlewood  Forest  ceased 
to  exist.  On  that  day  An  Act  far  Disafforesting 
the  Forest  of  JVhittltwood  became  law  ;  the  deer 
were  destroyed  or  removed,  and  the  forest  officers 
discharged. 

Salcey,  another  of  the  royal  forests  of  North- 
amptonshire, in  the  south-east  of  that  county, 

1  Cox,  Royal  Foreiti,  61—3.  ManwooJ,  so  continu- 
ously cited  by  writers  on  old  hunting,  has  strangely 
blundered  in  his  misleading  lists  as  to  legal  beasts  of 
the  forest  and  the  chase. 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


also  protruded  into  Buckinghamshire,  extending 
in  old  days  over  the  whole  of  the  parish  of 
Hanslope  as  well  as  in  the  adjacent  parts.  Han- 
slope  gave  its  name  to  one  of  the  walks  of  this 
old  forest.  In  1825  An  Act  for  Dividing,  Allot- 
ting and  Inclosing  the  Forest  of  Salcey,  in  the 
Counties  of  Northampton  and  Buckingham,  was 
passed. 

The  fourth  of  the  Buckinghamshire  forests, 
that  of  Bernwood,  was  by  far  the  most  important 
so  far  as  this  county  was  concerned.  Bernwood 
Forest  stretched  out  far  into  Oxfordshire,  em- 
bracing the  subsidiary  forest  stretches  of  Shotover 
and  Stowood,  and  approaching  almost  to  the  very 
walls  of  Oxford  by  way  of  Headington.  But 
the  larger  section  of  Bernwood  Forest  as  well  as 
the  centre  of  its  government  was  always  in 
Buckinghamshire.  In  that  county  the  consider- 
able projection,  about  the  centre  of  the  western 
border,  which  included  the  parishes  of  Boarstall, 
Brill,  Oakley,  Worminghall,  Long  Crendon, 
Ashendon,  Chilton,  Dorton,  Ludgershall,  and 
Wotton  Underwood,  were  always  within  Bern- 
wood  Forest  ;  whilst  for  a  long  time  it  extended 
much  further  north  to  the  Claydons,  as  well  as 
further  to  the  centre  or  east.  Its  exact  boundaries 
cannot  readily  be  determined,  they  fluctuated 
much  at  different  periods,  some  of  the  old 
perambulations  are  difficult  to  decipher,  and  the 
identification  of  several  of  the  places  named  as 
bounds  is  peculiarly  difficult. 

The  earlier  Norman  kings  added  largely  to  the 
area  of  Bernwood  Forest  on  the  Buckingham- 
shire side,  until  a  considerable  section  of  the 
county  was  subject  to  the  severity  of  the  forest 
laws.  By  the  Forest  Charter  granted  at  the 
opening  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  all  forests  which  Henry  II  had  af- 
forested should  be  viewed  by  good  and  lawful 
men,  and  that  all  that  had  been  made  forest, 
other  than  royal  demesne,  since  his  coronation, 
was  forthwith  to  be  disafforested.  In  accordance 
with  this  charter  special  perambulations  were 
ordered  to  be  made  by  not  less  than  twelve 
knights  elected  for  that  purpose  before  March, 
1224-5. 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  special  delay 
in  the  case  of  Buckinghamshire,  or  else  disputes 
caused  the  perambulations  to  be  ere  long  repeated  ; 
for  there  is  a  verdict  of  twenty-four  knights 
extant  of  1228  de  metis  foreste  in  Com.  Buc. 
This  perambulation,  starting  from  a  ford  over  the 
Thame,  went  as  far  north  as  Steeple  Claydon,  and 
much  was  stated  to  have  never  before  been  con- 
.  sidered  forest.  On  the  back  of  this  small  docu- 
ment appear  the  names  of  the  twenty-four 
knights,  including  Robert  Fitzalan,  Walter  de 
Fulebrot,  Ralph  Fitzjohn  and  Ralph  de  Lang- 
port.4 

There  is  also  extant  at  the  Record  Office  a 

4  Misc.  Chan.  Forest  Proc.  bdle.  1 1,  file  I,  Nos.  14, 
15.  These  documents  are  in  part  illegible. 


perambulation  of  the  year  1298,  which  was 
undertaken  in  the  presence  of  John  FitzNeal, 
the  chief  forester  or  warden,  of  four  foresters,  of 
four  verderers,  of  two  elected  knights,  and  of  two 
Crown  commissioners.  The  following  is  a  careful 
English  rendering  of  this  perambulation,  but  it  is 
difficult  to  follow.  The  stream  called  the  Yhyst 
may  be  identical  with  the  one  now  called  the 
Ray,  which  crossed  into  Oxfordshire  to  the  west 
of  Grendon  Underwood  : — 

Imprimis  to  wit  at  a  certain  stream  which  is  called 
Yhyst  and  therefrom  going  up  towards  Hethenaburgh 
and  so  to  Stodfolddem  and  so  from  thence  to  Pedyngton 
[Piddington]  moore  and  so  stretching  to  a  certain  place 
called  le  Dedequene  beyond  the  lord  King's  wood, 
[Kingswood]  and  so  going  up  through  Lotegershale 
[Ludgershall]  Hay  between  the  wood  of  the  King's 
demesne  and  Lotegershele  Wood  as  far  as  Colleputtes 
And  so  from  thence  to  the  Brechs  and  so  from  thence 
going  down  to  the  stream  to  Brechehurne  And  so  to 
Coppedhegge  and  then  proceeding  outside  the  haye  to 
Todeleshall  corner  And  from  thence  between  the 
King's  wood  and  the  wood  of  Richard  Grenoile  de 
Wotton  to  Siketon  as  far  as  Colhurch  on  the  east 
And  so  proceeding  by  the  aforesaid  wood  to  War- 
borughwell  Books  (?)  And  from  thence  to  Tremeren 
and  so  to  Wolvesthorpe  and  so  to  Dreyhurst  And 
from  thence  through  the  stream  to  Phippenhoohurne 
and  so  to  Aylyenewellesture  and  from  thence  to 
Whithorn  and  so  across  the  Quareinte  which  is  called 
Burnegrove  to  Brehull  [Brill]  forks  And  from  thence 
to  Morlesmede  and  so  to  Aysshegh  without  the  mes- 
suage of  Walter  de  Byllyndon  And  so  direct  through 
Alkedonemersh  to  Apcrofte  and  thence  by  the  Porte- 
weye  to  Stamford  And  so  between  Wormenhael 
[Worminghall]  Field  to  le  Wykehouse  And  from 
thence  to  Gulpesmede  And  so  by  the  ridge  of 
Delefield  to  le  Spanne  And  so  to  Stonyhurstend 
And  so  from  thence  to  Honybrugge  and  from  thence 
to  Stonyhurstende  and  from  thence  to  Hildesle  and 
from  thence  to  Ffoulesle  and  then  to  Okelyngoke 
through  the  stream  to  Waterfall  in  Smythedene  And 
from  thence  to  South  Wellredy  And  thence  to 
Southwell  and  thence  to  Halsadetonge  and  so  to 
Gashale  and  then  to  Grymes  dich  and  so  to  Stony- 
crouch  and  thence  to  Merlakebrugge  And  so  always 
by  the  bounds  in  the  counties  of  Bucks  and  Oxon  to 
the  aforesaid  stream  of  Yhyst.' 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  name  Bernwood 
had  relation  to  Bernulph,  the  successor  of 
Kenulph  and  grandson  of  King  Offa,  but  this, 
as  Lipscombe  remarks,  is  mere  conjecture. 
There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  it  was  an 
extensive  and  well-wooded  forest  tract  that  per- 
tained to  the  Saxon  monarchy  for  a  long  time 
previous  to  the  Norman  Conquest.  Brill,  which 
was  within  the  confines  of  Buckinghamshire, 
was  a  royal  manor  of  importance  in  Saxon  times, 
and  said  to  have  been  an  occasional  residence  of 
the  Confessor.  A  royal  precept  of  Henry  I 
(1109-11)  relative  to  the  canons  of  Gloucester 
is  dated  from  Brill.6 


5  Exch.  Accts.  Forest  Proc.  K.R.  bdle.  i,  No.  8. 

6  Royal  Chart.  Duchy  of  Lane.  No.  z. 


132 


FORESTRY 


The  place  is  mentioned  in  grants  of  Stephen 
and  Matilda,  and  we  know  from  charters  that 
Henry  II  was  sojourning  here  in  1160,  1162, 
and  1177.  King  John  was  at  Brill  on 
23  October,  1205,  and  also  kept  the  following 
Christmas  at  the  same  royal  seat.7  Henry  III 
stayed  here  in  1224  and  on  several  occasions 
afterwards  ;  and  Edward  I  was  at  Brill  yearly 
from  1273  to  I28i,  and  again  in  1293.* 

The  Pipe  Rolls  of  1 169-70  record  £31  4*.  ^d. 
from  the  wastes,  assarts,  and  pleas  of  the  forest 
of  Buckinghamshire,  but  in  the  following  year 
only  57*.  icd.  In  1172-3  the  amount  was 
551.  Sd.  Only  a  mark  was  entered  for  the 
forest  in  1173-4  and  1174-5,  and  but  half  a 
mark  in  1176-7.*  The  very  large  amount 
entered  in  1169-70  probably  arose  from  the 
Pleas  of  the  Forest  before  justices  being  held 
in  that  year. 

In  the  first  year  of  Richard  I  the  sheriff  of 
Buckinghamshire  was  indebted  in  the  sum  of 
24*.  (>d.  for  the  wastes,  assarts,  pleas,  and  pur- 
prestures  of  the  forest  of  Buckinghamshire. 
Mention  is  made  at  the  same  time  of  Ralph  the 
forester.10 

By  the  forest  of  Buckinghamshire,  in  these 
Pipe  Roll  entries,  is  evidently  meant  the  Buck- 
inghamshire division  of  Bernwood  Forest,  which 
was  usually  described  in  the  thirteenth  century 
as  the  forest  of  Brill. 

In  considering  the  question  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  ancient  royal  forests  of  Buckingham- 
shire, however  briefly,  it  seems  essential  to 
recollect  that  the  use  of  the  term  '  forest '  as 
applicable  to  a  great  wood  is  a  comparatively 
modern  custom.  Such  a  use  came  into  fairly 
general  adoption  in  Elizabethan  days,  but  origin- 
ally and  for  several  centuries  the  English  word 
*  forest '  meant  a  waste  tract  of  country  reserved 
for  royal  sport,  and  hence  placed  under  special 
laws  and  restrictions.  Within  the  forest  of 
Bernwood  or  Brill  there  were  many  great  woods 
and  thickets  of  undergrowth,  far  more,  doubt- 
less, than  would  be  formed  on  such  forests  as 
Dartmoor,  Exmoor,  or  the  High  Peak,  but  there 
would  certainly  be  a  considerable  share  of  open 
ground  and  heaths.  Within  this  area,  although 
there  would  be  a  good  deal  of  private  property, 
all  such  inclosures  as  were  of  sufficient  height  to 
exclude  the  deer,  did  they  desire  to  enter,  were 
forbidden,  save  under  special  licence.  The 
owners  of  woods  that  were  in  private  hands 
were  bound  to  appoint  woodwards,  who  were 
to  a  great  extent  foresters  of  the  king,  for  they 
were  sworn  to  arrest  venison  trespassers.  Though 
the  owners  of  such  woods  could  usually  take 
freely  all  wood  they  might  require  for  their  own 
use,  they  could  not  fell  to  any  considerable 

'  Lipscombe,  Bueks,  \,  97-8. 
*  Close  and  Pat.  R.  passim. 
1  Pipe  K.  Hen.  II  (Pipe  R.  Soc.). 
"  Magn.  Rot.  Pip.  35,  37. 


extent,  or  sell  wood,  or  burn  charcoal,  or  do  any- 
thing that  might  be  prejudicial  to  the  king's 
deer,  without  a  licence. 

The  administration  of  a  forest  was  partly 
national  and  partly  local.  From  time  to  time, 
often  at  prolonged  intervals,  forest  justices  of  the 
crown  came  round  to  hold  Pleas  of  the  Forest 
for  inquiring  into  privilege  claims,  for  exacting 
fines  for  assarts  and  purprestures  (the  terms  for 
illegal  inclosures  or  encroachments),  and  for 
punishing  trespasses  against  venison  and  vert. 
Vert  was  a  term  for  which  the  English  form 
of  '  green  hue '  was  occasionally  used,  implying 
all  damage  to  trees,  underwood,  and  forest 
herbage.  Local  courts  were  also  held  at  regular 
and  frequent  intervals,  when  the  minor  vert 
offences  were  dealt  with,  including  illicit  agist- 
ment  or  feeding  of  cattle  or  pigs,  and  stray 
animals ;  and  venison  trespasses  were  enrolled, 
and  the  commitment  of  offenders  to  prison  oc- 
casionally arranged.  Over  these  local  swain- 
mote  or  attachment  courts,  the  crown-appointed 
warden  or  chief  forester  presided,  with  the 
verdcrers  (usually  four  in  number)  as  assessors. 
These  were  men  of  position  elected  in  the 
county  court;  they  had  no  fees,  but  were  entitled 
to  certain  perquisites  both  of  vert  and  venison. 

The  foresters  were  those  who  had  charge  over 
different  sections  or  walks  of  the  forest,  and  it 
was  their  duty  to  present  offenders  at  the  courts, 
and  also  under  certain  circumstances  they  were 
expected  instantly  to  arrest  venison  trespassers  or 
hunters  and  to  convey  them  to  prison.  The 
delinquents  could,  however,  generally  obtain 
liberty  without  much  difficulty  on  sufficient 
bail  from  either  the  particular  justice  of  the 
forest  or  direct  from  the  crown.  They  were 
bound  over  to  appear  before  the  next  eyre  of  the 
justices  of  Forest  Pleas  ;  but  the  delay  was  so 
great  in  holding  these  eyres  that  not  a  few 
offenders  were  usually  dead  before  their  case 
came  to  trial.  By  the  Forest  Charter  no  one 
could  for  any  forest  offence  be  imprisoned  for 
more  than  a  year  and  a  day.11 

Robert  de  Drewes  was  entrusted  with  the 
charge  of  the  royal  manor  of  Brill,  at  pleasure, 
in  1217,  together  with  the  forest  pertaining  to 
the  manor." 

When  the  great  storm  of  1222  occurred 
which  devastated  the  woods  throughout  England 
and  caused  the  usual  customs  as  to  windfallen 
timber  in  royal  forests  to  be  held  in  abeyance, 
instructions  as  to  the  disposal  of  the  cablish  were 
forwarded  to  the  vcrderers  and  foresters  of  the 

11  It  feems  best  to  give  this  summary  of  forest  pro- 
cedure to  help  towards  the  understanding  of  some  of 
the  extracts  here  cited  ;  those  who  desire  to  gain  a 
better  understanding  of  the  various  processes  and  the 
intricacy  of  administration  are  referred  to  Turner, 
Select  Pitas  oftke  Foreit  (Selden  Soc.),  or  to  the  more 
popular  Cox,  Royal  Forests. 

11  Pat.  2  Hen.  Ill,  m.  II. 


'33 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


forest  of  Brehull  (Brill).  The  long  list  of  forest 
officials  to  whom  like  communications  were 
made  does  not  include  any  other  reference  to 
Buckinghamshire.13 

In  1219  the  crown  ordered  general  inquisi- 
tions to  be  held  throughout  England  as  to  the 
assarts  or  inclosures  that  had  been  made  within 
royal  forests.  These  orders  for  Buckingham- 
shire were  addressed  to  the  sheriff,  verderers,  and 
foresters,  who  were  to  meet  at  Buckingham  ; 
the  crown  named  four  inquisitors,  Simon  de 
Litlinton,  Walter  de  la  Haye,  Miles  Neirnut, 
and  Richard  de  Stokes,  and  with  them  was 
associated  Hugh  de  Baton  as  clerk.14 

The  sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire  received  the 
royal  mandate,  in  1229,  to  issue  summons  for 
a  regard  of  the  forests  of  the  county,  and  to  see 
to  the  election  of  regarders  in  the  place  of  those 
who  had  died  or  were  infirm,  so  that  there 
might  be  the  full  complement  of  twelve  in  each 
regard.  For  the  same  year  Brian  de  Insula  was 
appointed  justice  of  the  forest  for  Buckingham- 
shire and  several  other  shires.16 

Another  order  for  holding  a  regard  was  issued 
in  1235,  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of  the  justice 
of  the  forest.  The  foresters  were  to  swear  to 
bring  twelve  knights  elected  in  their  bailiwick 
to  view  every  kind  of  trespass,  as  expressed  in 
the  chapters  of  the  Regard.16 

Ranulf  Brito,  in  1229,  obtained  letters  patent 
authorizing  him  to  hunt  for  life  with  his  dogs 
the  hare  and  the  fox,  without  any  interference 
whatsoever  from  foresters  or  their  servants, 
through  the  whole  royal  forest  in  the  bailiwick 
of  Hugh  de  Neville,  in  the  counties  of 
Buckingham  and  Northampton.17 

William  son  of  Walter  de  Bruhull  was 
pardoned  by  the  king,  in  1232,  for  the  trespass 
of  skinning  a  deer  that  he  found  dead  in  this 
forest ;  Peter  de  Rivallis  received  orders  to 
release  him  from  prison.18 

In  1234  John  de  Neville,  the  bailiff  of  the 
forests  between  the  bridges  of  Stamford  and 
Oxford,  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  kill,  salt, 
and  make  bacon  of  the  pannage  pigs  of  Brill 
and  other  forests  of  Huntingdonshire  and  North- 
amptonshire, and  to  take  ward  of  it  for  the  king's 
use.19 

Various  royal  gifts  out  of  the  forest  of  Brill 
are  entered  on  the  Close  Rolls  of  Henry  III. 
Thus  in  1228  William  de  Wurdie,  servant  of 
Walter  de  Clifford,  was  permitted  to  take  forty 
cartloads  of  dry  brushwood  out  of  the  forest  of 

11  Pat.  7  Hen.  Ill,  m.  6. 

14  Ibid.  3  Hen.  Ill,  m.  4  d. 

16  Ibid,  i  3  Hen.  Ill,  m.  2,  9  d.  As  to  regarders,  and 
the  full  and  independent  reports  they  were  expected 
to  draw  up  every  year,  see  Cox,  Royal  Forests,  IO, 
1 1 ,  &c. 

16  Pat.  19  Hen.  Ill,  m.  n  d. 

ir  Close,  14  Hen.  Ill,  m.  20. 

18  Ibid.  1 8  Hen.  Ill,  m.  3. 

19  Ibid.  1 8  Hen.  Ill,  m.  4. 


Brill,  for  Walter's  hearth.  In  the  same  year 
King  John's  grant  to  the  canons  of  Nutley  to 
use  two  carts,  at  pleasure,  fetching  fuel  wood 
from  Bernwood  Forest,  was  renewed  by  Henry 
III  and  again  confirmed  in  I23O.20  The  Friars 
Minor  of  Oxford  received  a  royal  gift  from  this 
forest,  in  January,  1231,  of  thirteen  leafless 
oaks.21  Later  in  the  same  year  Walter  de 
Clifford  obtained  a  considerable  gift  of  building 
timber  from  the  same  forest.22 

The  brethren  of  the  hospital  of  St.  John- 
without-Oxford  obtained  five  oaks  from  Brill 
Forest,  together  with  another  five  from  Shotover 
Forest,  in  February,  1232,  for  the  building  of 
their  hospital,  and  in  July  of  the  same  year  ten 
tie-beams  for  the  hospital  chapel  to  be  taken 
wherever  they  were  most  suitable  from  either 
of  these  forests.23  In  1234  the  abbot  of  Oseney 
was  granted  twenty  oaks  from  Brill  towards  the 
building  of  his  church,  and  the  lepers  of  Walling- 
ford  an  oak  for  making  shingles  to  roof  their 
chapel.24 

Peter  de  Rivallis,  as  warden  of  the  forest,  was 
ordered  in  1233  to  provide  the  honest  men  of 
Oxford  with  100  Brill  oaks,  to  be  taken  where 
they  would  be  least  missed,  for  building  the 
turrets  of  the  walls  round  the  city  of  Oxford, 
and  for  making  planks  for  the  same.25 

In  the  following  year  there  is  a  particularly 
interesting  entry  on  the  Close  Rolls  relative  to 
the  timber  of  this  forest.  John  de  Neville 
received  the  royal  mandate  to  supply  the  iacrist 
of  Abingdon  Abbey  with  four  oaks  for  making  a 
certain  cross.86 

Royal  gifts  of  venison  were  not  infrequent. 
In  1229  Hugh  de  Neville,  forest  justice,  was 
ordered  to  allow  Drogo  de  Trubleville  a  buck 
out  of  Brill  Forest  and  like  gifts  to  Philippa,  the 
wife  of  William  de  Symilly,  Drogo's  niece,  and 
to  Thomas  Basset.''7  In  September  of  the  same 
year,  the  king  sent  Alan  de  Neville  and  Roger 
de  Stopham,  with  their  running  dogs,  to  hunt 
fallow  deer  in  Brill  Forest,  and  instructed 
John  de  la  Hoes,  the  forester,  to  sanction 
them.28  Later  in  the  same  year  Thomas  Basset 
received  three  does  out  of  this  forest,  and  Gilbert 
Marshall  four  does.29  In  1230  a  royal  gift  was 
made  to  Hugh  de  Plesset  of  two  does,30  and  in 
1231  two  bucks  were  given  to  Robert  de 
Curtenay.31  In  the  following  year  John  the 
Fool  and  Philip  his  companion,  royal  huntsmen, 

10  Close,  1 2  Hen.  Ill,  m.  6. 
"Ibid.  15  Hen.  Ill,  m.  19. 
"  Ibid. 

13  Ibid.  16  Hen.  Ill,  mm.  14,  7. 
"Ibid.  17  Hen.  Ill,  mm.  8,  7. 
"Ibid.  17  Hen.  Ill,  m.  2. 
16  Ibid.  1 8  Hen.  Ill,  m.  10. 
"Ibid.  13  Hen.  Ill,  mm.  10,  6. 
*  Ibid.  m.  4. 

Ibid.  14  Hen.  Ill,  pt.  i,  mm.  23,  22. 


29 

30  Ibid.  m.  13. 

"Ibid.  15  Hen.  Ill,  m.  12. 


FORESTRY 


were  dispatched  to  Brill  Forest  to  take  with 
their  dogs  two  or  three  red  deer,  against  the 
coming  of  the  king  to  Woodstock,1*  while  in 
September,  1233,  Roger  de  Quincy  was  granted 
ten  live  bucks  and  does  from  this  forest  towards 
stocking  his  park  at  Chinnor.*1 

Pleas  of  the  Forest  for  the  county  of  Bucking- 
ham were  held  at  Buckingham  on  Monday  after  the 
feast  of  St.  Mark,  1 255,  before  William  le  Bretun 
and  three  other  justices.  These  pleas  were  partly 
concerned  with  trespasses  committed  in  the 
small  section  of  the  Northamptonshire  forest  of 
Whittlewood  that  came  over  the  border  into 
Buckinghamshire,  but  more  especially  with  the 
Buckinghamshire  division  of  Bernwood  Forest, 
usually  known  as  the  forest  of  Brill.  Con- 
sequently the  eyre  had  to  be  attended  by  both  sets 
of  forest  ministers.84 

One  of  the  cases  of  presentment  from  Whittle- 
wood  Forest  involved  the  question  of  the  cruel 
custom  ofexpeditating  or  lawing  the  dogs  within 
a  forest  area,  so  as  to  hinder  them  from  chasing 
the  deer.  By  the  forest  law  of  Henry  II  this 
mutilation  was  only  done  to  mastiffs,  but  it 
gradually  came  about  that  it  was  applied  to  all 
dogs.  The  Forest  Charter  laid  down  that  a 
view  of  the  lawing  of  dogs  in  the  forest  was  to 
be  held  every  third  year,  and  a  fine  of  31.  paid 
for  each  found  unlawed.  This  lawing  consisted 
in  cutting  off  the  three  claws  of  the  forefoot, 
leaving  only  the  ball.  The  right  to  have  un- 
lawed dogs  within  a  forest  was  occasionally 
granted  by  the  crown  to  persons  of  position. 
Thus,  the  bishop  of  London,  the  dean  and  chap- 
ter of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  canons  of  Waltham 
held  grants  exempting  their  house  dogs  in  Essex 
Forest ;  whilst  the  earl  of  Arundel  and  other  lay- 
men had  complete  exemption.  Two  mastiffs 
belonging  to  Simon  de  Pateshull  were  found  in  a 
wood  at  Heyburne,  belonging  to  Simon,  worrying 
a  brocket  (a  hart  of  the  second  year)  which  had 
been  wounded  in  the  right  haunch.  He  was 
charged  at  the  eyre  not  only  with  this  offence, 
but  with  the  unlawed  condition  of  his  mastiffs. 
Simon,  however,  was  able  to  put  in  a  chartered 
exemption  from  dog-lawing,  but  he  was  fined 
two  marks  for  the  conduct  of  his  mastiffs. 

Some  of  the  cases  considered  at  this  eyre  went 
back  as  far  as  1 248.  Three  delinquents  were 
charged  with  having  hunted  in  that  year  in  the 
wood  of  Stockholt,  in  Whittlewood  Forest,  with 
bows  and  arrows,  and  with  resisting  the  riding 
foresters  who  sought  to  attach  them.  In  the 
same  year,  Alexander,  chaplain  of  Wotton,  and 
two  men  with  him  who  escaped  and  whose 
names  were  unknown,  committed  a  forest  offence 
in  Bernwood.  When  the  justices  in  eyre  came 
round,  seven  years  later,  Alexander,  who  was  on 
bail,  was  dead  ;  a  return  had  to  be  made  of  his  chat- 

"  Close,  1 6  Hen.  Ill,  mm.  I  5,  7,  6. 
a  Ibid.  17  Hen.  Ill,  mm.  1 1,  9,  3. 
14  Exch.  Accti.  Forest  Proc.  T.R.  251. 


tels,  which  were  only  worth  lit.  yl.t  with 
an  unvalued  burse  containing  relics.  Amongst 
other  interesting  cases  may  be  mentioned  that  of 
Hugh  de  Molond  in  1249,  who  was  found  going 
out  of  the  forest  with  a  bow,  which  he  handed 
to  his  brother  Richard.  The  foresters  found  at 
his  house  a  bow  and  four  barbed  arrows.  Hugh 
and  Richard  were  both  imprisoned  and  bailed  ; 
the  justices  fined  the  former  a  mark  and  the 
latter  half  a  mark. 

At  this  Buckingham  eyre  it  was  stated  that 
John  Durant,  woodward  of  Roger  de  Wotton  of 
his  wood  of  Stockholt,  had  been  presented  by 
his  lord  before  Robert  Basset,  the  steward  of  the 
forest ;  and  afterwards  presented  by  his  lord 
before  Edward  de  Bosco,  forest  justice,  at  Selves- 
ton.  William  Curtis,  woodward  of  Simon  de 
Sancto  Licio  for  his  part  of  the  wood  of  West- 
bury,  had  been  presented  by  his  lord  before  the 
forest  steward,  and  afterwards  presented  and 
sworn  before  Hugh  of  Goldingham,  the  forest 
justice.  Walter  de  Clanfield,  woodward  of 
James  le  Savage  for  his  part  of  the  wood  of 
Westbury,  had  also  been  presented  and  sworn  in 
like  manner.*4 

In  1266  an  inquisition  was  held  at  Hartley, 
in  Bernwood  Forest,  as  to  the  bailiwick  of  John, 
the  son  of  Neal,  which  he  held  in  that  forest 
by  hereditary  right  (forester  in  fee  of  Boarstall),  as 
the  king  wished  to  be  certified  as  to  his  rights  and 
customs  and  services.  The  jury  testified  that  he 
held  by  hereditary  right  the  bailiwick  from  Stony- 
ford  as  far  as  a  certain  water  called  the  Burne, 
running  between  Steeple  Claydon  and  Padbury  ; 
that  he  had  rights  of  cheminage  or  way-leave, 
of  after-pannage,  of  all  rents,  of  dead  woods  and 
of  the  loppings  and  roots  of  all  trees  given  or 
sold  or  taken  for  his  own  use  by  the  king.  Two 
other  rights  are  sufficiently  interesting  to  be  set 
forth  as  Englished  by  Mr.  Turner  : — 

He  has  and  he  ought  of  hereditary  right  to  have 
throughout  the  aforesaid  bailiwick  trees  felled  by  the 
wind,  which  is  called  cablish,  and  that  in  the  form 
underwritten,  to  wit,  that  if  the  wind  fells  ten  trees 
in  one  night  and  one  day,  the  lord  king  will  have 
them  all ;  but  if  the  wind  fells  less  than  ten  tree*  in 
one  night  and  one  day,  the  aforesaid  John  will  have 
them  all. 

Also  this  same  John  has  of  right  all  attachments 
and  issues  of  attachments  made  of  small  thorns,  to 
wit,  of  such  a  thorn  as  cannot  be  perforated  by  an 
auger  (tarrera)  which  is  called  '  Restnauegar.' 

The  meaning  of  this  last  clause  is  that  the 
undergrowth  of  small  thorns  was  John's  per- 
quisite, and  that  the  question  of  what  was  small 
and  what  was  large  was  tested  by  whether  the 
thorn  stem  was  sufficiently  large  to  be  pierced  by 
a  standard  auger. 

The  last  clause  of  the  verdict  of  this  inquest 
was  to  the  effect  that  John  had  to  guard  this 

u  See  Turner,  Select  Pleat  of  tbt  Foreit  (Selden 
Soc.),  Ixviii. 


'35 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


forest  bailiwick  (that  is  to  find  and  pay  the  under- 
forester)  in  return  for  these  privileges  and  also  to 
make  an  annual  payment  to  the  king  of  4Cw.36 

In  1280  there  was  an  inquisition  as  to  a  night 
trespass  in  Bernwood  Forest,  Buckinghamshire, 
when  the  foresters  took  and  imprisoned  a  com- 
pany of  thirteen.  The  foresters  swore  that  one 
of  the  number,  Robert  Cripelard,  was  engaged 
in  placing  a  snare,  formed  of  a  single  cord  ;  but 
the  jury  held  that  Robert  was  not  culpable.37 

In  connexion  with  the  Forest  Pleas  for  Buck- 
inghamshire, lists  were  drawn  up  in  1286  and 
1287  of  quittance  of  the  common  summons. 
Among  those  whose  presence  at  the  eyres  was 
thus  excused  by  the  crown,  although  free  tenants 
or  holding  privileges  within  the  royal  forests  of 
the  county,  were  the  abbess  of  Godstow,  the 
abbess  of  Barking,  the  bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Lichfield,  the  priors  of  Merton  and  La  Grave, 
the  abbot  ofOseney,  the  prior  general  of  St.  John 
of  Jerusalem,  the  master  of  the  hospital  of  St. 
John-without-Oxford,  and  the  earls  of  Cornwall, 
Hereford,  and  Surrey.38 

The  prison  for  trespassers  in  the  whole  forest 
of  Bernwood  was  at  Brill.  In  February,  1277, 
John  Fitzneal,  the  warden  of  the  forest,  was 
ordered  to  deliver  Peter  le  Provost  and  his  son 
John,  imprisoned  at  Brill  for  forest  trespass,  in 
bail  to  twelve  men  pledged  to  deliver  him  before 
the  justices  of  Forest  Pleas  when  next  they  came 
to  those  parts.  In  the  following  May  the  same 
warden  received  a  like  mandate  from  the  crown 
to  release  in  a  similar  manner  Hugh  Magot  and 
his  son  Humphrey  from  imprisonment  at  Brill.'9 

In  1292  Elias  de  Hauvill,  steward  of  Bern- 
wood  Forest,  received  the  crown  mandate  to 
release  on  bail,  from  the  prison  at  Brill,  William 
de  Boyton  and  seven  others,  all  confined  there 
for  forest  trespasses.40 

In  the  same  year  Aumary  de  St.  Amando, 
king's  yeoman,  obtained  licence  by  letters  patent 
to  hunt  the  fox,  hare,  badger,  and  cat,  with  his 
own  dogs,  throughout  the  forests  of  Bucking- 
hamshire, except  during  the  fence  month,  so 
that  he  did  not  take  great  game  or  course  in 
warrens.41 

Occasionally  in  the  forests  of  this  county,  as 
elsewhere,  trespassers  obtained  immediate  pardon 
from  the  crown.  Thus,  in  1294,  the  justices 
next  in  eyre  for  Forest  Pleas  in  the  county 
of  Buckingham  received  royal  orders  not  to 
molest  James  de  la  Plaunche  for  the  trespass  he 
was  said  to  have  committed  in  taking  harts  and 
hinds,  as  well  as  bucks  and  does,  in  the  Bucking- 
hamshire portion  of  Salcey  Forest  without  the 
king's  licence,  as  the  king  had  pardoned  him  the 

"Inq.  p.m.  50  Hen.  Ill,  No.  25. 
"  Misc.  Chan.  Forest  Proc.  bdle.  n,  file  3  (22). 
18  Close,  1 4  Edw.  I,  m.  8  d. ;   15  Edw.  I,  m.  5  d. 
"  Ibid.  5  Edw.  I,  mm.  1 1,  8. 

40  Ibid.  20  Edw.  I,  m.  9. 

41  Pat.  20  Edw.  I,  m.  10. 


136 


trespass.  A  like  letter  was  directed  to  the 
justices  next  in  eyre  for  the  county  of  North- 
ampton.42 

In  October  1297  the  sheriff  of  Buckingham- 
shire received  the  king's  mandate  to  the  effect 
that  he  desired  the  late  king's  Forest  Charter  to 
be  observed  inviolable  in  all  its  articles,  and 
he  had  therefore  appointed  Adam  Gurdon  and 
William  de  Mortuo  Mari,  together  with  two  of 
the  most  discreet  of  the  knights  of  the  county, 
to  cause  a  perambulation  to  be  made,  in  the 
presence  of  the  foresters  and  verderers,  to  con- 
firm the  perambulations  of  the  late  reign  which 
had  not  been  disputed.  The  sheriff  was  ordered 
to  summon  all  the  knights  of  the  county  to  meet 
Adam  and  William,  and  from  their  number  to 
appoint  two  successors.43 

When  the  perambulation  of  Whittlewood 
Forest  was  shortly  afterwards  undertaken,  Roger 
le  Brabazon  and  Ralph  de  Hengham  took  a  sore 
(a  buck  of  the  fourth  year)  and  three  does  in  the 
Buckinghamshire  part  of  the  forest.  Letters 
close  were,  however,  addressed  by  the  crown 
to  the  justices  next  in  eyre  for  Pleas  of  the 
Forest,  both  of  the  counties  of  Buckingham 
and  Northampton,  ordering  them  not  to  molest 
or  aggrieve  Roger  and  Ralph,  as  they  and  the 
others  assigned  by  the  king  to  make  the  perambu- 
lation took  them  by  his  licence  in  the  course  of 
making  the  perambulation.44 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Edward  III,  the 
sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire  was  ordered  to  take 
anew  in  his  county  court  the  oaths  of  the 
verderers  of  Bernwood  Forest,  who  had  been 
elected  in  the  late  king's  lifetime,  to  inquire 
into  their  qualifications  and  to  cause  others  to 
be  elected  in  the  place  of  those  who  might  be 
insufficiently  qualified.48 

An  inquisition  was  held  at  Brill  in  1363, 
before  William  of  Wykeham,46  as  to  the  pasture 
rights  of  the  tenants  of  Brill,  Boarstall,  and 
Oakley,  when  it  was  held  that  they  had  rights 
of  depasturing  their  cattle  through  the  whole 
forest,  save  in  the  haye  (or  park)  of  Ixhull, 
without  molestation  except  in  the  fence  month. 
In  the  following  year  an  inquisition  was  held  at 
Headington,  before  Peter  Atte  Wood,  deputy  of 
William  of  Wykeham,  as  to  the  condition  of  the 
whole  forest  of  Bernwood.4' 

There  is  an  original  inquisition  as  to  the  state 
of  the  Buckinghamshire  division  of  Bernwood 
Forest  at  the  Public  Record  Office,  held  in  the 
year  1377,  with  the  rows  of  small  imitative  seals 

"  Close,  22  Edw.  I,  m.  9. 
"Ibid.  25  Edw.  I,  m.  4<£ 

44  Ibid.  28  Edw.  I,  m.  4. 

45  Ibid.  2  Edw.  Ill,  m.  27. 

16  This  was  the  great  William  of  Wykeham,  who 
became  bishop  of  Winchester  in  1367.  His  appoint- 
ment as  warden  of  Bernwood  Forest  is  not  named  by 
any  of  his  biographers. 

"  Kennet,  Punch.  Antij.  \\,  146. 


FORESTRY 


of  the  jury  still  pendent  on  tags  of  the  parch- 
ment. But  there  was  nothing  to  report  of  any 
moment,  and  it  is  a  mere  formal  return,  seven 
lines  in  length.48 

In  July,  1489,  Forest  Pleas  were  held  at 
Buckingham  before  Sir  John  Ratcliif  and  Sir 
Reginald  Gray.  There  were  ninety-seven  pre- 
sentments, and  fines  were  inflicted  varying  from 
half  a  mark  to  loos.  The  offences  included  the 
killing  of  several  fallow  deer,  and  in  two  cases  of 
red  deer,  also  of  wholesale  game  hunting  with 
bows  and  arrows  and  cross-bows  (ba/istis  ac  quarel- 
Ki)  by  a  large  company  chiefly  from  Notting- 
hamshire and  other  counties.  The  vert  pre- 
sentments numbered  117,  the  fines  varying  from 
one  to  two  shillings  ;  in  seven  of  these  cases  an 
alibi  was  established,  and  nine  were  excused  fines 
on  the  score  of  poverty.  William  Rede  was 
presented  for  having  kept  a  coppice  closed  for 
seven  years  which  ought  to  lie  open,  to  the  great 
hurt  of  the  king's  deer.  Among  those  claiming 
chartered  liberties  in  the  Buckinghamshire  forests 
were  the  abbots  of  Oseney  and  Nutley,  the  prior 
of  Frideswide,  the  prioress  of  Studley,  and  the 
provost  of  Oriel  College.4' 

The  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  was,  in 
Buckinghamshire  as  elsewhere,  sadly  disastrous 
to  the  woodlands  of  the  county.  In  1541, 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  regulate  the 
sales  of  the  coppices  of  Bundon  and  Echyllthorn 
at  Horwood,  in  Whaddon  Chase,  late  the  pro- 
perty of  St.  Al  ban's  Abbey.  At  the  same  time 
other  commissioners  were  appointed  for  the  sale  of 
Honers  Wood,  late  the  property  of  Missenden 
Abbey." 

The  priory  of  Tickford,  Newport  Pagnel, 
was  surrendered  to  Wolsey  in  1525,  but  on  the 
cardinal's  fall  came  to  the  crown,  when  the 
lands  surrounding  the  house  were  turned  into  a 
deer  park. 

A  certificate  was  presented  by  Thomas 
Tavener  and  Robert  King,  'prescvators  of  the 
Queenes  Majesties  woods  within  her  highness 
Parkes  of  Tyckford  and  Hanslopp,'  as  to  the 
felling  of  woods  and  trespasses  done  in  the  years 
1587-8.  In  January,  1587,  there  was  a  sale  in 
Tickford  Park  of  underwood,  when  six  trees 
were  taken  out  of  the  coppice,  valued  at  £4, 
without  the  leave  of  the  woodward  or  his 
deputy.  George  Annesley,  the  park  keeper, 
was  charged  with  selling  forty  loads  of  '  Browse 
wood '  (winter  food  for  deer)  at  5</.  a  load, 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  ^10,  and  also  with 
damaging  the  newly-cut  coppice  by  turning  into 
it  horses  and  colts,  and  by  mowing  divers  places, 
amounting  to  a  loss  valued  at  £13  61.  8</.  The 
preservators  recommended  that  a  sale  should 
shortly  be  made,  for  the  benefit  of  the  crown, 
of  two  or  three  hundred  trees,  which  could  well 


be  spared  in  Newton  Pagnel,  the  Mersh  End, 
and  Tickford.*1 

In  the  reign  of  James  I  Bernwood  Forest, 
Shotover,  and  Stowood,  were  required  to  furnish 
timber  for  the  Royal  Navy,  and  a  pretty  quarrel 
arose  between  the  shipwrights  sent  to  the 
forest  and  the  keepers  and  other  officials  as  to 
the  proper  ownership  of  certain  perquisites,  the 
chips  '  which  fall  out  to  be  made  in  the  squaring 
and  sising  of  the  tymber.'  These  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Navy  claimed  as  '  a  fee  and  dutie 
ever  belonging  to  them  in  all  places  where  they 
have  been  ymployed  in  like  seruice  and  never 
challenged  from  them  untill  nowe.'  The  keepers, 
always  keen  on  making  a  profit  from  the  sale  of 
wood,  naturally  took  a  different  view,  and  the 
matter  was  referred  to  London.  The  authori- 
ties, favouring  the  claim  of  the  shipwrights,  Peter 
Pett'*  and  Daniel  Duck,  decided  that  they 
should  not  be  robbed  of  what  was  certainly  '  the 
proceed  of  theire  owne  worke  and  labour  and 
yeeldyng  no  browse  for  the  deere,  to  give  colour 
of  claime  to  the  kepers,'  with  the  result  that  a 
warrant  to  this  effect  was  issued  to  John  Denham, 
farmer  of  the  forest  of  Bernwood.*3 

A  commission  was  issued  in  1623  for  the 
disafforesting  of  Bernwood.  Sir  John  Dormer 
and  the  other  commissioners  allotted  to  every 
freeholder  in  the  forest  in  the  proportion  of  10 
acres  for  every  100  acres,  as  well  as  230  acres 
for  the  poor  of  the  district  in  the  counties  of 
Bucks  and  Oxon.  But  a  dispute  arose  as  to  the 
proportions,  and  a  jury  was  summoned  in  the 
following  year  to  set  out  the  allotments.  A  bill, 
however,  was  filed  in  chancery,  and  judgement 
was  declared  in  1632,  whereby  the  forest  tenants 
of  the  two  counties  obtained  the  allotment  of 
577^  acres,  leaving  1,397$  acres  to  the  crown.*4 

Not  only  was  the  forest  law  in  operation,  in 
however  modified  a  form,  in  Bernwood  Forest 
proper  until  the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  I,  but 
occasional  swainmote  courts  were  held  outside 
its  boundaries,  as,  for  example,  in  Whaddon  Chase, 
as  late  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The  general 
history  of  this  chase  is  indeed  of  considerable 
interest. 

The  entries  in  Domesday  Book  are  decisive  as 
to  the  well-wooded  character  of  Whaddon  and 
the  neighbouring  manors,"  and  at  a  very  early 
period  Walter  Giffard,  earl  of  Buckingham,'* 
granted  to  the  priory  of  St.  Faith  at  Longue- 
ville  all  Horwood,  except  the  fee  of  Durand, 
with  tith:s  of  wood,  pannage,  fishpool,  and  all 


45  Forest  Proc.  K.R.  bdle.  I,  No.  9. 

"  Exch.  Accts.  Forest  Proc.  K.  R.  bdle.  I, 

M  Accts.  Exch.  bdle.  149,  Nos.  I,  2. 

2 


11  Ibid.  bdle.  557,  No.  13. 

"  One  of  the  famous  family  whose  history  it  traced1 
in  the  Ancestor,  x,  147. 

"  S.P.  Dom.  Jas.  I,  Ixxx,  54  ;  cf.  Cal.  S.P.  Dom. 
Jai.  I  (161 1-18),  pp.  85,  125. 

M  Lipscombe,  Bucks,  i,  53-4. 

-  V.C.H.  Bucks,  i.     For  the  account  of  Whaddoa 
No.  10.      Chase  Mr.  C.  H.  Vellacott  is  responsible. 

14  Round,  Cal.  DM.  Fratut,  75. 
137  18 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


the  profits  of  his  wood  at  Whaddon.  And  these 
privileges  and  quittances  in  the  wood  of  Whad- 
don, together  with  all  the  assarts  of  the  monks 
in  his  wood  of  Horwood,  were  confirmed  to 
them  about  a  century  later  by  William  de 
Humetis,67  Constable  of  Normandy,  to  whom 
the  manor  of  Whaddon,  detached  from  the 
honour  of  Giffard,  had  been  granted.  As  part 
of  the  land  of  the  Normans  Whaddon  came  to 
the  king's  hands  in  the  reign  of  King  John,  but 
was  soon  granted  to  William  D'Albini.68  On 
the  accession  of  Henry  III  William  Marshall 
for  a  time  retained  Whaddon,  but  it  was  ulti- 
mately restored  on  his  death  to  the  earl  of 
Arundel,  passed  in  natural  course  to  his  brother, 
Hugh  D'Albini,  and  on  his  decease  in  1241, 
since  he  was  the  last  male  heir  of  the  grantee, 
again  reverted  to  the  crown. 

The  woodland  and  wild  heath  appendent  to 
the  manor  of  Whaddon  were  at  this  time  part  " 
of  the  royal  forest  of  Buckinghamshire,  which 
had  been  extended  to  cover  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  county.  In  the  year  following  the  death  of 
Hugh  D'Albini  the  manor  of  Whaddon  with  its 
woodlands  was  granted  to  John  Fitz  Geoffrey,  a 
son  by  his  second  wife  of  Geoffrey  Fitz  Peter, 
late  earl  of  Essex.60  The  coveted  game  pre- 
serves were  now  vested  in  a  subject,  but  as  we 
learn  from  an  argument 6l  in  a  lawsuit  of  the 
following  reign  certain  incidents  of  forest  law 
still  remained  : — 

King  Henry  granted  and  gave  it  to  us  to  hold  it  as  a 
chase  in  the  same  manner  as  he  held  while  it  was  a 
royal  forest  ;  and  we  have  three  swainmotes  yearly 
for  searching  and  enquiring  whether  any  one  puts 
more  beasts  therein  than  he  ought  to  put. 

There  is  also  ample  evidence  M  that  the  business 
of  this  court  was  by  no  means  confined  even  at 
a  very  much  later  period  to  merely  regulating 
the  rights  of  common. 

John  Fitz  John,  son  of  the  grantee  of  1242, 
seems  to  have  still  further  enlarged  the  borders 
of  the  chase  by  acquiring  from  the  abbot  of 
St.  Albans  his  hunting-rights  in  Abbot's  Wood 
in  Little  Horwood,  lander  the  reservation  that 
the  abbot  should  be  free  to  hunt  in  this  wood  on 
four  days  in  the  year,  namely,  two  at  Holy  Rood 

67  Round,  Cal.  Doc.  France,  78. 

58  He  was  remembered  there  as  having  granted  half 
a  virgate  in  almoin  to  the  hermit  of  Codemor,  Hund. 
R.  (Rec.  Com.),  ii,  3  3  63,  and  a  meadow  at  Whad- 
don was  known  in  1318  as  the  '  Heremitesmede ' 
(Cart,  of  Snellshall,  B.M.  Add.  MSS.  37068,  fol. 
38<31.).  In  Tudor  times  one  'walk'  or  section 
of  Whaddon  Chase  bore  the  name  of  Codemore 
Quarter. 

"  Year  Books  0/21,  22  Edw.  I  (Rolls  Ser.),  622, 
et  seq. 

60  Ibid.  ;  cf.  Plac.  De  Quo  Warr.  94,  95. 

61  Tear  Books,  ut  sup.  ;  cf.  Turner,  Select  Pleas  of 
ike  Forest  (Selden  Soc.). 

65  Ct.  R.  P.R.O.  bdle.  155,  No.  29. 


Day,  and  two  at  Candlemas.63  It  is  possible 
also  that  the  woodland  of  Great  Horwjod 
granted  to  St.  Faith's,  Longueville,  and  attached 
to  its  cell,  the  alien  priory  of  Newton  Long- 
ville,  were  also  claimed  at  this  time  by  the  lord 
of  Whaddon  as  in  some  sort  a  parcel  of  the 
chase.64 

The  importance  of  Whaddon  as  a  hunting 
centre  is  borne  out  by  certain  of  the  tenures 
met  with  both  on  it  and  the  adjacent  manors. 
The  custody  of  the  chase  of  Whaddon  was  held 
in  fee  by  the  Giffard  family.  Early  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  I  Robert  Giffard  is  returned 65  as 
holding  i£  virgates  by  petty  serjeanty  '  per  quam 
custodit  silvam  domini,'  paying  3^.  a  year  and 
rendering  certain  customary  services.  He  has 
also  housbote  and  heybote  in  the  lord's  wood, 
and  his  beasts  (averia)  go  with  his  lord's  to 
pasture  '  exceptis  parco  et  prato  non  falcato.' 
Here  we  have  perhaps  the  earliest  mention  of 
the  lord's  park  as  distinct  from  the  chase  gener- 
ally. Again,  in  a  deed66  of  1318,  we  hear  of 
John  Giffard,  keeper  of  the  chase  of  Whaddon 
(custodi  chacie  de  Whaddon)^  in  connexion  with  a 
certain  '  placea  vasti  infra  chaciam  '  granted  and 
leased  to  him  by  Robert  de  Montalt  and  the 
Lady  Emma  his  wife,  who  held  the  chase  in 
dower  as  the  widow  of  Richard67  Fitzjohn. 
The  right  of  Giffard  to  inclose  this  land  saepibus 
et  baits  is  conceded  by  the  prior  of  Snelshall, 
who  probably  had  some  claim  to  common  therein. 
The  custody  of  the  chase  remained  with  the 
Giffards  till  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  an  heiress  carried  it  in  marriage  to 
Robert  Pigott,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  York- 
shireman  and  a  follower  of  Queen  Margaret.68 

Besides  the  keeper  of  the  chase  other  tenants69 
held  land  in  Whaddon  by  services  in  connexion 
with  its  woodland  during  the  thirteenth  century, 
while  one  tenement,  which  early  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  I  had  escheated  to  Richard  Fitzjohn, 
had  formerly  been  enjoyed  by  Ralf  le  Appelgart 
by  the  service  of  holding  a  leash  of  greyhounds 
when  the  lord  of  Whaddon  wished  to  hunt. 
Even  Sir  John  Passelewe  held  half  a  virgate  in 

65  Hund.  R.  ii,  3  3  83. 

M  Cf.  Hund.  R.  ii,  338,  liber  am  chaciam  inHorewood. 
In  the  late  fifteenth  century  this  claim  was  set  up  by 
the  lord,  but  the  swainmote  juries  denied  it  and 
asserted  that  the  Prior's  Wood  (then  belonging  to  New 
College)  was  purlieu. 

"Hund.  R.  ii,  3 3 6b.  This  Robert  Giffard  was 
the  son  of  Geoffrey.  Both  father  and  son  witness  a 
charter  of  Paul  Peiuere  to  John,  prior  of  Snelshall, 
and  his  monks,  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  B.M.  Add.  Chart.  53786. 

66  Cart,    of  Snelshall,    B.M.  Add.    MSS.    37068, 
fol.  38^. 

67  Brother  of  John   Fitzjohn.     The  reversion  was 
vested  in  Richard  de  Burgh,  earl  of  Ulster  and  lord 
of  Connaught.     Cart,  of  Snelshall,  ut  sup.  fol.   3  8  a1. 

69  Lipscombe,  Hist,  of  Bucks,  i,  405. 

69  Richard  de  Admodesham  and  Hamo  le  Blake. 


138 


FORESTRY 


Mursley  appurtenant  to  Whaddon  by  a  similar 
service  to  be  performed  at  Winslow  bridge.70 

There  seems  to  be  evidence 71  that  John  Fitz 
John  and  his  brother  and  successor  used  their 
privileges  of  chase  to  the  utmost,  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  their  weaker  neighbours.  The  men  of 
Mursley  hundred  declared  in  1276  that  John 
Fitzjohn  'appropriavit  sibi  liberas  chacias,' 
which  may  suggest  that  he  was  claiming  rights 
of  chase  in  that  part  of  Shenley  known  as 
Westbury,  which  in  1086  had  belonged  to 
Richard  Engaine.  Furthermore,  it  was  sub- 
ject of  complaint  that  Robert  Giffard,  Peter 
the  Forester,  and  Robert  Stort,  bailiffs  of  Lord 
John  Fitzjohn,  had  imprisoned  William  Popping 
and  Richard  le  Noreys,  servants  of  Thierry  le 
Alemaund,  apparently  to  extort  money.  At 
the  very  end  of  the  century  .Richard  Fitzjohn 
was  fighting  a  case  in  the  courts  arising  out  of 
his  seizure  of  the  beasts  of  Robert  FitzNeal  in 
the  Abbot's  Wood.7' 

From  that  time  until  the  fifteenth  century,  in 
the  absence  of  the  swainmote  rolls,  we  have  only 
occasional  allusions  to  the  chase  of  Whaddon, 
notices  of  the  hereditary  keepers  the  Giffards 
and  other  officers,73  or  warrants  for  the  taking 
of  deer 74  when  the  chase  and  park  of  Whaddon 
for  any  reason  was  in  the  king's  hands. 

Richard,  duke  of  York,  to  whom  Whaddon 
and  its  chase  had  come  with  the  lands  and  titles 
of  the  earls  of  Ulster,  fell  at  Wakefield  in  1460. 
Cecily  his  widow  survived  him,  and  her  dower  in 
Whaddon  was  assured  by  letters  patent  from 
Henry  VI,  successively  confirmed  by  her  sons 
Edward  IV  and  Richard  III.  She  died  seised  of 
Whaddon  in  1495,  but  already  in  the  seventh 
year  of  his  reign  Henry  VII  had  granted  the 
reversion  of  the  manor  and  chase  to  his  queen, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  IV  and  grand- 
daughter of  the  duchess  dowager  of  York. 

As  already  stated,  the  heiress  of  the  GifFards 
had  married  a  Mr.  Pigott,  a  north  countryman, 
and  brought  him  the  hereditary  keepcrship  of 
the  chase,  which  descended  to  his  son  Thomas 
Pigott,  afterwards  serjeant-at-law.  Mr.  Pigott 
appears  to  have  been  keen  in  his  maintenance  of 
the  rights  of  his  office  and  the  claims  of  his 
mistress  in  the  chase,  and  met  with  considerable 
opposition  from  a  gentleman  of  the  neighbour- 
hood, Thomas  Stafford,  Esq.,  of  Tattenhoe.  It  is 
possible  that  during  the  early  fifteenth  century, 
and  still  more  during  the  troubled  times  of  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  the  chase  had  not  been 
strictly  guarded,  its  exact  bounds  had  become 
matter  of  dispute,  inclosures  and  purprestures 

"  Hand.  R.  (Rec.  Com.),  ii,  336^. 

»  Ibid,  i,  4z6. 

71  Tear  Books  of  21-22  EJw.  I,  ut  sup. 

71  Nich.  Knoll,  late  parkerand  surveyor  of  Whaddon 
Chace,  Chan.  Inq.  p.m.  6  Ric.  II  (103) 

"  Pat.  i  Hen.  IV,  pt.  8,  m.  12.  Edmund,  E. 
of  March,  was  at  that  time  an  infant. 


had  been  made,  and  in  consequence  Mr.  Pigott 
set  himself  to  find  a  remedy. 

However  this  may  be,  in  the  spring7'  of  1494 
there  was  held  at  Whaddon,  in  the  churchyard, 
a  '  syttynge '  or  court  of  the  forest,7'  under  the 
presidency  of  Sir  Rainold  Bray,  one  of  the 
justices  of  the  forest  south  of  Trent.  Not 
only  were  '  the  chief  of  the  counsaile '  with 
Sir  Rainold,  but  the  Buckinghamshire  gentry 
mustered  in  force,  '  bjth  my  Lorde  Grey,  Sir 
Thomas  Grene  and  Mr.  Emson  and  many 
mo.'  And,  proceeds  the  local  account,  'all  the 
olde  men  of  the  comon  were  then  brought  in 
that  al  that  day  by  the  mynde  of  Mr.  Stafford  and 
Mr.  Pigot  which  stryved  for  the  chace  grownde 
and  the  purlews  and  for  ingrement  to  be  had 
there.'  About  the  original  chase  of  Whaddon 
proper  there  was  no  dispute.  When  its  bounds 
had  been  recited,  Sir  Rainold  Bray  required  of 
the  jurors  'what  more  chace  ground  there  was  ? 
To  whom  they  answered  and  said,  Thabbotes 
grownde  is  chace  in  a  maner.'  He  then  asked 
them  '  What  maner  was  that  ? '  They  answered, 
'  if  the  dutie  be  paid,'  and  this  duty  was  7  deer 
a  year  due  to  the  abbot  of  St.  Albans,  prt  at 
midsummer  on  St.  Alban's  Day,  and  part  at 
Christmas — possibly  a  commutation  of  the  old 
reservation  of  four  days'  hunting  a  year.  Its 
bounds  were  then  set  out. 

After  this  Sir  Rainold  Bray  demanded,' What 
is  there  more  of  chace  grownde  ? '  and  sugge*ted 
that  the  Prior's  Wood 7;  should  be  included.  But 
the  jurors  made  answer  and  said '  they  had  nothinge 
therewith  to  do,'  and  were  similarly  recalcitrant 
with  regard  to  '  Nycols  Wood '  and  'Totnolbare.'78 
The  justice  then  passed  on  to  inquire  of  Abbots 
Mede  and  Pukpit  Hill,  and  the  reply  that  '  it  is 
the  demaine  and  belonging  to  Little  Horwood  * 
provoked  the  exclamation,  '  Why,  sires,  will  ye 
say  that  these  be  not  chace  growndes  ? '  But  the 
jury  stubbornly  adhered  to  their  testimony.  The 
only  'chace  growndes'  they  knew  were  those 
which  had  been  'evermore  usen.'  Mr.  Empson 
was  then  asked  who  owned  the  Prior's  Wood. 
Mr.  Pigott,  however,  answered,  '  New  College, 
Oxford."  But  neither  the  master7*  nor  his  attorney 

"  Invention  of  the  Cross,  9  Hen.  VII. 

"  For  the  popular  account  of  this  'syttynge'  see 
B.M.  Add.  MS.  37069,  fol.  134^  et  seq.  A  late 
and  rather  illegible  copy  of  a  swainmote  roll  for  9 
Hen.  VII,  is  extant,  and  this  may  be  the  official  record 
of  the  court  (B.M.  Add.  R.  53964).  It  contains  a 
good  deal  of  matter  besides  the  recital  of  the  bounds 
of  the  chase. 

"  The  wood  formerly  belonging  to  the  alien  priory 
of  Newton  Longville. 

n  i.e.,  Tattenhoe  Bare.  This  was  the  site  of  the 
•hog-sty'  of  Thomas  Stafford,  who  apparently  was 
regarded  as  the  champion  of  popular  rights. 

"  At  a  later  court,  about  1 500,  the  abbot  of  St. 
Albans,  New  College,  the  prior  of  Snclshall,  and  Mr. 
Stafford  were  all  represented  by  their  attorneys.  D.  of 
Lane.  Forest  Proc.  bdle.  3,  No.  24. 


»39 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


was  present,  and  the  justice  decided  'We  can  do 
nothing  to  there  grownde  if  they  have  no  knoledge 
thereof ;  we  sit  here  but  as  voyde  for  this  mater.' 
As  to  the  stubborn  jury,  he  continued, '  I  daresay 
these  men  ben  good  and  true  and  a  true  verdyt 
they  have  brought,  houbeit  they  be  not  abull 
men  to  shew  the  kinge.'  Therefore  he  ordered 
twelve  neighbouring  gentlemen  to  be  'paneld 
upon  a  quest,'  who  were  to  bring  in  their  verdict 
by  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  next.  According  to 
the  popular  account  we  have  been  following, 
these  gentlemen  did  not  bring  in  their  verdict 
nor  were  ever  called  so  to  do.  'So  this  matter 
standyth  as  it  dyd  before  tyme  which  have  ever 
be  caled  purlew  grownde  and  it  is  no  chace  and 
never  was.'  The  further  business  of  this  court 
as  set  out  in  what  appears  to  be  the  official 
record  80  need  not  detain  us  further — details  as  to 
the  deer,  offences  against  customs  of  common,  and 
such  inclosures  and  purprestures  as  the  flagrant 
instance  of  Mr.  Stafford's  '  Hoggesty.' 

No  other  forest  court  seems  to  have  been  held 
in  Whaddon  for  several  years,  but  about  1500," 
and  probably  in  the  autumn,  Mr.  Pigott  com- 
manded 'another  courte  to  be  holden  at  Whaddon ' 
and  the  old  questions  were,  in  part,  thrashed  out 
anew.  He  brought  forward  '  olde  evidence,'  and 
by  reason  thereof  urged  the  jurors  to  declare 
Mursley  Grove  and  Nicols  Wood  within  the 
bounds  of  the  chase.  '  We  never  saw  it,'  they 
answered,  '  ne  yet  our  fathers  before  us,  where- 
fore we  will  never  gree  thereto.'  He  then  offered 
to  ensure  their  legal  immunity  if  they  consented. 
Then  made  answer  John  Macke,  the  foreman  of 
the  quest,  '  How  will  you  bare  us  out  if  we 
fortune  to  be  laid  in  prison  ? '  and  his  fellows 
exclaimed 'all  with  hole  voyce  that  they  would 
never  agree  thereto  but  as  there  fathers  dyd  by 
olde  tyme.  Than  he  waxed  angry  and  called 
them  all  churles  and  said,  if  he  lyved,  that  he 
would  quit  them  all  there  mede.' 

Baffled  on  this  point  Mr.  Pigott  asked  the 
the  jurors  whether  they  would  direct  that 
Mr.  Stafford's  hog-sty  should  be  pulled  down  by 
a  certain  day.  They  answered  all  and  said  '  They 
would  not  meddle  therewith  ;  there  they  found  it 
and  there  they  would  leave  it.'  This  answer  ex- 
hausted the  hereditary  keeper's  patience.  He 
ordered  his  clerk  to  take  up  the  books  and  left 
the  court-room.  But  when  Mr.  Pigott  had  reached 
the  yard  he  turned  again  into  the  house  and  bade 
the  steward  '  to  wryte  at  chace  all  that  ever  was 
within  the  bounds  of  the  diche,'  and  promised  to 
bear  him  out.  Further  he  ordered  the  steward 

80  Assuming  that  the  swainmote  of  9  Hen.  VII  was 
the  occasion  of  this '  Syttynge.'    Unfortunately  in  Add. 
R.  53964,  the  portion  of  the  date  which  would  fix 
the  exact  month  is  illegible. 

81  The  popular  account  leaves  the  date  vague.      The 
time  suggested  is  an  inference  from  indications  in  D. 
of  Lane.  Forest  Proc.,  bdle.  3,  No.  19,  if,  as  is  possible, 
the  presentations  there  refer  to  this  court. 


'lay  ^lO  upon  Mr.  Staffbrde's  hed  '  that  his  hog- 
sty  be  pulled  down  by  the  Michaelmas  following. 
Part  of  Mr.  Stafford's  offence,  as  appears  from  the 
presentments82  of  the  foresters  in  14-15  Hen. VII, 
was  his  appointment  of  a  swineherd  who  was  not 
sworn  'to  our  Lord  the  King.'  The  hog-sty 
was  situate  at  Tattenhoe  Bare.  He  had  also  been 
guilty,  during  the  years  immediately  preceding,  of 
trespasses  against  the  king's  venison,  having  with 
others  unknown  slain  a  buck  'apud  Snelleshale 
quarter'  on  18  June,  12  Hen.  VII,  and  similarly 
on  20  July,  14  Hen.  VII,  chased  a  doe  at  Salden 
Leys  outside  the  bounds  of  the  king's  chase  of 
Whaddon,  but  actually  killed  it  at  the  Frith,  which 
was  within  the  bounds.  Mr.  Thomas  Stafford 
was  also  a  keen  fox-hunter  and  '  usualiter  de  anno 
in  annum '  entered  both  park  and  chase  in 
pursuit  of  his  quarry.  But  it  is  clear  that  there 
was  a  considerable  amount  of  poaching  in  the 
king's  chase  during  the  last  years  of  the  fifteenth 
century  among  the  neighbouring  residents,  both 
high  and  low,  from  Marmaduke  Constable,  knight, 
who  killed  a  '  pricket :  at  Westwood  Hill,  on 
2O  August,  13  Hen.  VII,  to  Henry  Chery  of  Fenny 
Stratford,  yeoman,  who  on  26  August,  two  years 
later,  entering  the  king's  chase  at  the  Frith, 
killed  and  carried  away  '  unam  damam  vocatam 
a  tegge.'  Besides  the  venison  trespasses  there 
were  a  number  of  interesting  presentments  as  to 
common  rights,83  and  a  recital  of  the  bounds  of 
the  chase  proper  which  we  can  merely  mention 
here. 

So  unsatisfactory  had  been  Mr.  Pigott's  ex- 
perience of  courts  in  connexion  with  Whaddon 
chase,84  that  no  other  was  held  in  his  lifetime. 
He  died  a  serjeant-at-law  about  1520,  leav- 
ing his  second  wife  Elizabeth  a  widow.  This 
redoubtable  lady,  who  was  the  eldest  coheiress  85 
of  John  Iwardby  of  Great  Missenden,  had  already 
been  married  to  a  Northamptonshire  squire  before 
her  alliance  with  Mr.  Thomas  Pigott.  On  her 
second  husband's  death  she  found  herself 8e  in 
possession  of  the  manor  of  Doddershall,  which  she 
had  as  her  marriage-portion,  and  besides  other  pro- 
perty held  the  manor  of  Whaddon  and  the  custody 
of  the  park  and  chase  for  the  term  of  life  with 
remainder  to  William  Pigott  her  step-son.  The 
timber  and  venison  of  the  park  and  chase,  with  the 
exception  of  certain  recognized  perquisites,  were 
apparently  reserved  to  Queen  Catherine,  who  had 
succeeded  her  mother-in-law  in  their  enjoyment. 

88  D.  of  Lane.  Forest.  Proc.  (P.R.O.),  bdle.  3,  No.  19. 

83  One    complaint    was    that  the    warden  of  New 
College,  Oxford,  had  inclosed  the  common  at  Prior's 
Wood  to  the  extent  of  twenty  acres. 

84  None  till    1 6   Hen.   VIII,    according    to    Add. 
MS.  37069.      Possibly  this    is  a  scribe's  mistake  for 
17  Hen.  VIII. 

85  Cal.  Inq.p.  m.  Hen.  Vll.     Nos.  6  and  1080. 

86  Cf.  Rentals  and  Surveys  (P.R.O.),  ptfo.  2,  No.  7, 
and  Chan.  Inq.   p.m.   Ser.  2,   12  Hen.  VIII,  No.    i. 
Thomas  Pygott. 


I40 


FORESTRY 


In  spite  of  these  reservations  great  waste  was 
made  in  the  woods  after  Serjeant  Pigott's  death, 
and  it  was  probably  on  this  account  that  a  swain- 
mote87  was  held  at  Whaddon  just  before  Holy 
Rood  Day,  on  12  September,  17  Hen.  VIII. 

Thomas  Wendilborough,  the  keeper  of  the 
park,  deposed  that  a  buck,  a  '  sore,'  a  '  sorell,'  and 
certain  '  rascalls '  had  died  of  murrain  during  the 
preceding  year  and  'are  hanged  upon  the  trees.' 
The  two  keepers  of  the  chase,  the  keeper  of  the 
Prior's  Wood,  and  the  keeper  of  the  Abbot's  Wood 
also  gave  united  testimony  that  a  buck,  a  doe, 
and  seven  '  rascalls '  had  died  of  murrain  in  the 
chase  during  the  same  time,  and  their  bodies  were 
similarly  exhibited.  One  poaching  case  in  the 
queen's  park  was  presented,  Robert  Spencer, 
gentleman,  having  been  responsible  for  the  death 
of  a  '  pricket '  killed  in  the  month  of  June 
previous  to  the  holding  of  the  court.  Five 
persons  were  fined  id.  a  piece  for  building  and 
retaining  hog-sties  in  the  chase,  while  the  keeper 
of  the  Abbot's  Wood  had  made  a  'park'  within 
the  chase  and  taken  pannage  and  herbage  in  the 
wood  aforesaid  to  the  grave  damage  of  the  queen. 
In  this  last  case  the  jury  found  that  the  queen 
had  been  wont  time  out  of  mind  to  have  pannage 
and  herbage,  waif  and  stray,  and  all  other  liberties 
in  the  Abbot's  Wood  except  such  wood  and 
underwood  as  was  reserved  for  the  Abbot's  use. 
This  matter  was  evidently  regarded  as  of  some 
importance  and  reserved  for  the  consideration  of 
the  queen's  councils.  There  had  also  been  laxity 
as  to  the  commoning  of  sheep,88  and  direction  was 
given  that  the  ancient  customs  relating  thereto 
should  be  observed  under  a  penalty  of  40^.  in 
each  case  of  default.  Furthermore,  an  entry  as 
to  common-rights  relating  to  Newton  Longville 
seems  to  indicate  that  in  the  abeyance  of  the 
regular  swainmote  these  matters,  as  they  affected 
the  chase,  were  dealt  with  in  the  ordinary  courts 
of  the  manor. 

The  most  serious  matter,  however,  which 
engaged  the  attention  of  this  court  was  the  waste 
of  the  vert  both  in  the  chase  and  park.  The 
jury  returned  that  since  the  death  of  Thomas 
Pigott  392  oaks  and  18  ashes  had  been  cut 
down,  and  more  than  600  loads  of  underwood 
and  '  top  and  lop '  (subbosci  et  rami)  carried  off 
within  the  chase,  as  well  as  137  oaks,  52 
ashes,  and  700  loads  of  underwood  likewise 
wasted  in  the  park.  The  underwood  and  '  top 
and  lop '  was  valued  at  the  rate  of  bd.  a  load. 
Moreover,  Mrs.  Pigott  had  broken  and  destroyed 
the  '  Capud  Stagni  vocatum  le  Newenton  Pond- 

"  Court  Rolls  (P.R.O.),  bdle.  155,  No.  19. 

*  This  was  a  frequent  bone  of  contention  daring 
the  early  seventeenth  century  in  forests  and  chases  ;  cf. 
r.C.H.  Essex,  ii  ;  V.C.H.  Glouc.  ii,  '  Forestry.'  A* 
regards  Whaddon  Chases  especially,  we  know  from 
other  sources  that  'Sheep  were  not  to  be  allowed 
unfolded  in  the  wood  commons."  B.M.  Add.  MS. 
37069,  fol.  147. 


hede '  in  the  chase  and  taken  out  all  the  fish. 
The  jury  found  that  her  late  husband  and  his 
predecessors  had  always  full  fishing  rights  in  the 
pool  in  question,  but  Mrs.  Pigott,  in  utterly  de- 
stroying the  fish,  had  evidently  exceeded  her 
powers,  and  she  was  ordered  to  repair  the  pond- 
head  and  re-stock  it. 

A  final  presentment  was  made  as  to  the  parties 
responsible  for  the  keeping  up  of  the  boundary  or 
fence  of  the  chase.8* 

A  year  or  more  later  we  have  further  evidence 
of  Mrs.  Pigott's  reckless  proceedings  in  certain 
articles *°  exhibited  against  her  '  for  wastes  and 
destruccions  by  her  and  her  keepers  done  within 
the  Queen's  Chase  and  Park  of  Whaddon  '  from 
the  time  of  her  husband's  death  till  Michaelmas, 
1 8  Hen.  VIII.  The  trees  felled  are  there  esti- 
mated at  600.  Some  of  these  were  sold  at  ICM. 
a  piece,  others  carried  to  Doddershall  for 
the  building  of  her  new  house  there,  while  of 
four  wood-sales  in  Nicols  Wood  and  the  sale 
of  Lusshepytt  and  the  Frith  coppices  she  had 
rendered  no  account.  The  underwood  felled 
was  estimated  as  previously  at  1,300  loads  and 
much  more,  and  the  destruction  had  continued 
since  the  queen  was  last  at  Whaddon.*1 

The  slaughter  done  amongst  the  queen's  deer 
was  even  more  serious.  In  one  year  only,  from 
Holy  Rood  Day,  17  Hen.  VIII,  to  the  same  date 
in  the  following  year,  more  than  sixty  deer  had 
been  killed  in  the  chase,  and  in  the  'grece  tyme* 
last  past  the  keepers  had  killed  at  least  twenty, 
which  was  a  very  grievous  offence.  Nine  or  ten 
fawns  had  been  given  to  various  persons,  and  the 
keeper  of  the  park  had  sent  to  his  '  fryndes 
dyverse  dere  in  sakkys.'  Indeed  the  '  said  Eliza- 
beth distroyed  so  largely  the  Quenys  Grace'  seid 
dere  that  sumtyme  she  fedd  her  houshold  with 
them,'  and  venison,  it  was  reported,  was  the 
chief  victual  of  the  keepers  on  the  flesh  days. 
What  action  was  taken  by  the  crown  on  these 
revelations  does  not  appear,  but  there  is  some 
reason  to  believe  that  greater  strictness  was 
observed  during  the  next  few  years  in  safeguard- 
ing the  woodland  and  the  venison  at  Whaddon. 

*  Quod  prior  de  Snellyshale  debet  facere  bundam 
de  le  Chace  a  Shepcotte  Yate  usque  Angulum  de  le 
Oxlesse  et  ab  Angulo  de  le  Oxlesse  usque  Hacche  Yate. 
Johannes  Hampden  miles  debet  facere  a  Hacche  Yate 
usque  clausum  dicti  prioris  et  a  dicto  clause  prior  debet 
facere  usque  Totnolandend.  Et  villata  de  Totnoland- 
ende  a  dicto  clauso  usque  Ryngforde  Yate.  Et  a 
Ryngforde  usque  Crabtre  Yate  domina  Regina  debet 
facere.  Et  a  Crabtre  Yate  usque  Cakefote  Yate 
Horwode  Parva  debet  facere.  Et  a  Cakefote  Yate 
usque  finem  bosci  de  Horwode  villata  de  Horwode 
Magna  debet  facere.  Et  •  dicto  fine  bosci  usque 
Oldefeld  Corner  villata  de  Sykylburgh  debet  facere.  Et 
a  Oldefelde  Corner  usque  Lionellet  Hollei  villata  de 
Nasche  debet  facere. 

"  Forest  Proc.  K.R.  bdle.  I,  No.  II. 

"  The  date  of  this  is  not  stated.  It  may  have 
synchronized  with  the  swainmote  already  referred  to. 


141 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


At  the  very  close  of  her  life  Mrs.  Pigott 
was  engaged  in  litigation  in  the  Court  of  Aug- 
mentations,98 and  we  hear  incidentally  that  the 
king,  being  seised  of  the  park  and  chase  on 
the  death  of  Queen  Jane  Seymour,  had  in  July 
of  his  thirty-second  year  granted  her  a  lease 
under  certain  conditions.  In  1548  she  made 
her  will  and  shortly  after  died  and  was  buried 
at  Whaddon,  Giffard's  manor  passing  by  sale 
after  her  death  to  the  Greys  of  Wilton,  and  with 
it  the  hereditary  custody  of  the  park  and  chase 
and  the  keepership  of  the  game.93 

The  later  history  of  the  chase  cannot  be  dealt 
with  in  detail  here,  but  a  few  notes  may  be 
allowed  as  to  the  gradual  deterioration  of  its 
woodland.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  swain- 
mote  courts  were  held  in  the  chase  after  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII,  but  under  Elizabeth  in- 
quisitions were  made  as  to  the  state  of  the  wood- 
land. It  was  found  by  one  of  these  that  Wood- 
pond  Coppice,  containing  fifty  acres,  was  sold  by 
Mr.  Sylvester  Taverner, 

sythe  the  begyning  of  the  raign  of  Quyne  Mary  and 
also  Nycols  Wood,  containing  30  acres,  was  sold  by 
one  Vaghan  sarvante  to  the  olde  Earl  of  Sussex  and 
by  William  Cottesford  and  also  they  solde  five  score 
trees  owte  of  the  same  wood  imedyatly  after  the 
vnderwood  was  gone  and  every  tree  was  worthe  zoJ. 
Also  Mr.  Hamden,  Clarke  of  the  Quen's  Majestys 
Kytchen,  had  for  the  reparatyon  of  Kyrsloo  40  okes 
by  the  Quynes  warrant  dated  the  19  Feb.  2  Eliz. 
Also  he  had  20  okes  for  Kyrsloo  aforsayd  by  Quynes 
warrant  24  May  1560. 

Other  grants  are  mentioned,  and  as  to  apparently 
unauthorized  waste, 

the  olde  Lord  Grey  of  Wylton  sold  20  lodes  of  fyre 
wode  yearlye  for  the  space  of  10  yeares  for  2O/.  by 
the  yeare.  Also  we  fynde  three  rydynges  made  in 
the  chase  by  Mr.  Thomas  Wake  lyeftenaunt  there 
conteyning  3  acres, 

and  so  the  tale  continues  of  the  ill  custody  of 
the  vert  by  its  sworn  guardians.  It  is  noted 
that  Woodpond  Coppice  '  being  fyrewoode  was 
40  years'  growth  when  it  was  fallen,  Nycoll's 
Wood  being  fyrewood  was  21  years'  growth.' 
The  other  wood  was  partly  '  firewood '  and 
partly  timber.94  It  must  also  be  remembered 
that  the  recognized  rights  of  commoners95  and 
others  entitled  to  perquisites  were  liable  to  serious 
abuse  and  no  doubt  contributed  to  the  gradual 
deterioration  of  the  chase  at  the  time. 

9>  Aug.  Proc.  (P.R.O.),  bdle.  14,  No.  25. 

93  Add.  MS.  37069,  fol.    140,   Lipscombe,  Hist,  of 
Bucks,\i\,  498  ;  F.  of  Fines,  Bucks.  Trin.  5  Edw.  VI. 

94  Add.  MS.  37069,  fol.  144. 

95  '  Also  the  comyners  that  boundes  upon  the  chasse 
do  clayme  and  hath  had  tyme  owte  of  mynde  sufficient 
hedge  boote  owt  of  the  Chasse  to  repayre  the  Chasse 
mownde,  as  oft  as  nead   dyd  require,'  while  certain 
wood  rights  were  claimed  by  Lord  Grey,  Mr.  Percival 
Jefferson,    the    farmer    of  Snelshall,    the    '  baylye    of 
Wynsloo  '  and  others.    Add.  MS.  37069,  fol. 


Towards  the  end  of  the  month  of  March, 
1594,  Sir  John  Fortescue  wrote  on  behalf  of  the 
queen  to  Thomas  Fortescue,  His  Majesty's  Sur- 
veyor of  Lands  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  to 
Thomas  Stafford  and  Edward  Walter,  Her 
Majesty's  Woodwards,  that  he  was  informed 
that  a  great  deal  of  the  paling  and  rails  of 
Whaddon  Park  was  blown  down  and  utterly 
decayed.  Repairs  must  be  taken  in  hand  lest 
'her  Majestie's  deer  breake  forth  to  the  decaie 
of  the  game  there.'  The  timber  necessary  could 
be  felled  in  the  park  itself,  while  the  top  and  lop 
might  be  sold  and  the  money  applied  to  meet  the 
necessary  expenses.98 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  John  Savage,  lieutenant  of  the 
chase,  orders  were  ratified  by  the  Lady  Sybil 
Grey  as  to  the  perquisites  of  the  officers.  The 
lieutenant  was  to  have  one  buck  and  one  doe 
each  year  with  all  waifs  and  strays  and  the  dead 
hedges  of  every  coppice,  beside  all  windfalls  in 
the  chase  above  a  load,  and  six  loads  for  fuel, 
while  a  certain  number  of  loads  of  wood  were  to- 
be  allotted  yearly  to  the  other  officers  who  were 
under  the  general  charge  of  Mr.  Underwood, 
apparently  the  senior  keeper.97  Fees  of  all  the 
deer  in  the  park  were  to  belong  to  the  keeper  of 
the  park  only,  but  '  all  the  other  keepers  in  the 
chace  to  haue  all  the  fees  of  the  deare  killed 
every  man  alyke  in  his  turne.'  No  browsewood 
should  be  sold  except  in  one  special  case  four 
loads  a  year,  and  it  was  further  directed  for  the 
protection  of  the  young  trees  that 

no  horse  or  geldyng  be  suffered  to  goe  into  any 
coppice  there  till  it  shall  be  8  or  9  yeres  growth 
without  they  be  tied  in  any  playne  where  no  wood 
is  growyng. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  next  reign  considerable 
attention  was  directed  to  the  woods  and  forests 
of  the  crown,  and  about  1608  a  survey98  was 
made  of  several  extents  of  woodland  in  Bucking- 
hamshire and  along  the  Northampton  border, 
including  '  Whaddon  Chase  and  Parke  parcell  of" 
the  Queenes  Majesties  joynture  and  Abbottes 
woodes  late  the  Lord  Grayes  not  in  her  Majesties, 
joynture.'  As  a  result  of  this  survey  328  trees 
were  sold  for  the  sum  of  ^517  Js.  ^d.  Of 
these  the  park  furnished  forty-two  and  Abbots 
Wood  eighty-five,  the  rest  belonging  to  the 
chase  proper.99 

But  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  saw 
the  most  serious  destruction  of  the  timber  in  the 

98  Add.  MS.  37069,  fol.  199. 

97  The  park-keeper  was  apparently  Thomas  Peers. 
There  seem  to  h;ive  been  four   keepers   in  the  chase, 
William  Underwood,  Richard  Smyth,  John  Maynard, 
and  John  Brown,  besides  William   Lorde,   in   charge 
of '  Shucklo  Warren,'  and  John  Cartwrich,  the  wood- 
ward. 

98  P.R.O.  Exch.  Spec.  Com.  7107. 

99  For  a  later  sale  of  dottard  trees  in  the  reign  of 
James  I  see  Egerton  MS.  808,  fol.  3  et  seq. 


142 


FORESTRY 


chase,  which  was  at  this  time  in  the  hands  of  the 
duke  of  Buckingham.  In  1649  and  1651 
Parliament100  ordered  that  £3,000  should  be 
raised  by  felling  wood  in  Whaddon  Chase  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  the  garrison  of  Windsor 
and  for  other  purposes,  and  this  was  accordingly 
carried  out,  while  the  encumbered  condition  of 
the  Villiers  estates  after  the  Civil  War  invited 
further  waste,  and  Catherine,  duchess  of  Buck- 
ingham, converted  the  park  into  pasture  and 
tillage  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

A  lamentable  picture  of  the  state  of  the  wood- 
lands 101  is  drawn  at  the  end  of  the  next  century 
by  the  reporters  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture. 

Whaddon  Chase  was  then  divided  into  several 
coppices,  covering  about  22,000  acres,  part  of 
which  was  shut  up  for  a  certain  number  of  years, 
usually  nine,  and  then  laid  open  to  the  deer  as 
well  as  to  the  commoners  for  twelve  years.  The 
coppices  produced  large  oak,  ash,  and  other  timber 
as  well  as  underwood,  '  but  from  the  custom 
of  the  deer  and  the  commoners'  cattle  being 
suffered  to  depasture  thereon  unlimitedly,  the 
young  timber  is  at  this  time  totally  destroyed.' 
The  reporters  proceed  to  point  out  that  if  the 
deer  were  confined  to  one  spot  and  the  chase  and 
commons  divided  among  the  parties  interested, 

it  would  be  a  very  important  advantage  gained  to  the 
proprietors,  and  a  great  national  benefit,  inasmuch  as 
the  growth  of  oak  and  other  Umber  would  be  en- 
couraged. 

They  further  state  that 

large  sticks  have  formerly  been  sold  from  this  chase 
for  upwards  of  ten  pounds  per  tree  ;  it  is  therefore 
the  more  to  be  deplored,  that  the  young  timber 
should  be  so  continually  destroyed,  the  land  being  so 
well  adapted  to  its  growth. 

From  a  further  report lw  by  the  Rev.  St.  John 
Priest  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture  in  1813  we 
learn  that  the  coppices  were  twenty-eight  in 
number,  of  which  twenty-one  belonged  to  Mr. 
Selby  of  Winslow  and  the  rest  to  New  College. 
Besides  the  chase  proper,  he  mentions  certain 
'busky-leys*  which  'are  somewhat  of  the  same 
nature,  except  that  they  have  not  been  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Crown  as  Chaces  have.'  The 
recommendations  made  to  the  Board  of  Agri- 
culture in  1794  did  not  bear  immediate  fruit,  as 
the  deer  were  still  allowed  to  roam  at  large  over 
the  chase  for  between  forty  and  fifty  years  longer 
before  they  were  finally  limited  to  the  inclosure 
of  the  park. 

The  General  View  of  the  Agriculture  tf  the 
County  of  Buckingham,  drawn  up  in  1794,  by 
Messrs.  James  and  Malcolm,  has  already  been 

'"  Cal.  Comf.  Gen.  Proc.  376,  484,  520,  556,  and 
S.  P.  Dom.  Interr.  cxxx,  10,  52. 

101  James  and  Malcolm,  Gen.  yiew  Agric.  Bucks. 
(1794),  42. 

l"  Op.  cit.  26,  27. 


referred  to  in  connexion  with  Whaddon  Chase. 
This  comparatively  brief  reference  to  woods  and 
woodlands  stated,  at  the  outset,  that  from  Marlow 
to  Fingest,  and  through  that  district  bounded  by 
the  London  and  Oxford  road  on  the  south  and 
the  Thames  on  the  north,  one  sixth  part  of  the 
land  was  covered  with  beechwood,  '  which  may 
yield  a  profit  of  from  141.  to  20*.  per  acre  per 
annum.'  The  woods  required  but  little  atten- 
tion, as  the  old  trees  shed  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
seed  to  keep  up  a  constant  supply  of  young 
plants.  In  the  parish  of  Wycombie  there  were 
700  acres  of  common  beech  woodland.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  Chesham,  the  large  thriving 
beech  woods  were  under  good  management. 
There  were  also  particularly  fine  woods  of  beech 
growing  upon  the  chalk  in  the  parish  of  Amers- 
ham.  Mention  is  made  of  the  large  amount  of 
planting,  chiefly  with  Scotch  firs,  which  had 
recently  been  undertaken  on  the  heaths  in  the 
parishes  of  Wavendon  and  Brickhill,  which  was 
in  a  very  thriving  state. 

Mr.  Priest,  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  his  report 
of  1813,  deals  particularly  with  woods  and  plan- 
tations. It  is  there  stated  that  the  Whaddon 
coppices  were  sold  as  firewood  and  also  for 
fences ;  the  faggot  wood  at  241.  per  hundred, 
viz.  120  faggots.  The  thorns  were  sold  not  only 
for  fences  but  also  to  fill  up  underdrains,  and  for 
that  purpose  were  carried  many  miles.  At 
Hillesden  Wood,  seven  or  eight  acres  were  felled 
once  in  twelve  years,  and  at  Emberton,  where 
there  were  about  eighty  acres  of  wood,  six  were 
felled  yearly.  There  were  140  acres  of  copse 
wood  at  Stoke  Goldington.  On  many  farms 
strips  were  set  aside  to  grow  sallows,  ashes,  and 
elms  to  serve  as  stuff  for  hurdles. 

The  Chiltern  Hills,  particularly  at  West 
Wycombe,  are  mentioned  as  abounding  in  low- 
growing  junipers.  Beech  is  named  as  by  far 
the  most  abundant  wood  in  the  county,  and  in 
general  use  for  the  manufacture  of  chairs.  Beech 
wood  is  sold  at  from  I  ^d.  to  i  fd.  a  foot.  The 
beech  wood  was  exceptionally  beautiful  at  Shard- 
low,  where  Mr.  Drake  had  one  beech  which 
was  perfectly  straight  and  75  ft.  in  height  up  to 
the  first  bough.  The  girth,  two  feet  from  the 
ground,  was  7  ft.  8  in.,  and  it  was  estimated  to 
contain  229  ft.  of  timber. 

The  timber  of  Ashridge  Park  is  described  as 
noteworthy,  and  the  measurements  are  given  of 
several  oak  and  beech  trees. 

There  are  some  interesting  comments  offered 
upon  the  growth  of  trees,  owing  to  the  difference 
of  soil  above  and  below  the  Icknield-way.  The 
beech,  ash,  larch,  and  fir  are  stated  not  to  flourish 
below  the  Icknield-way,  whilst  all  other  trees,  such 
as  oaks,  elms,  horse-chestnuts,  and  whitethorn 
were  very  promising.  A  remarkable  old  oak  is 
named  at  Thornton,  which  was  quite  hollow  and 
capable  of  containing  seventeen  persons  ;  it  had 
a  girth  at  the  roots  of  45  ft. 


»43 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


As  to  the  numerous  old-established  private 
parks  of  Buckinghamshire,  apart  from  royal 
forests,  abounding  in  fine  timber  and  well  stocked 
with  deer,  much  information  has  already  been 
recorded  of  Ashridge  Park  (chiefly  in  Hertford- 
shire), of  Fawley  Court  Park  (partly  in  Oxford- 
shire), as  well  as  of  the  historic  parks  of  Biddlesden, 
Bulstrode,  Claydon,  Ditton,  Doddershall,  Hart- 
well,  Langley,  Stoke,  Stowe,  Thornton,  Turville, 
Whaddon,  and  West  Wycombe.103 

Langley  Park,  of  383  acres,  is  well  timbered 
with  oak  ;  to  the  north  of  the  park  is  a  large 
tract  of  woodland,  about  l£  miles  long  by  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  broad,  appropriately  termed  the 
Black  Park,  which  is  covered  with  Scotch  firs ; 
it  was  originally  planted  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  the  greater  part  of  it  is 
self-sown. 

There  are  several  parks  in  the  county  which 
are  not  deer-stocked,  but  are  quite  noteworthy  for 
their  fine  timber  :  three  of  the  best  examples  are 
Butler's  Court,  Beaconsfield,  of  400  acres  ;  Gay- 
hurst  Park  of  250  acres ;  and  Hughenden  Manor 
House  of  140  acres. 

The  county  affords  instances  of  an  exceptional 
number  of  fine  avenues  of  diversified  interest. 
To  gain  the  noble  park  of  Stowe  from  Bucking- 
ham, an  avenue  of  trees  two  miles  in  length  has 
to  be  traversed.  Thornton  Hall,  with  a  park  of 
181  acres,  has  a  good  avenue  of  elms.  At 
Taplow  Court  there  is  a  long  avenue  of  well- 
grown  cedars  of  Lebanon.  Wavendon  House 
has  a  fine  elm  avenue,  half-a-mile  in  length  ; 
whilst  Wavendon  Tower  has  an  avenue  of  limes 
and  horse-chestnuts.  At  Yewdon  Manor, 
Hambleden,  there  is  an  ancient  avenue  of  yews. 
A  singularly  fine  yew  hedge  is  also  worth  noting 
at  Remnantz,  Great  Marlow.  The  somewhat 
wild  avenue  of  beech  and  Spanish  chestnuts  at 
Great  Hampden  is  of  historic  interest. 

Some  of  the  finest  beech  trees  of  the  county 
are  in  the  grounds  of  Hampden  House ;  and 
excellent  examples  will  also  be  found  in  the 
beautifully  diversified  grounds  near  Chesham.  At 
Burnham  Beeches,  in  the  south  of  the  county — a 
beautiful  remnant  of  English  woodland  scenery, 
purchased  by  the  corporation  of  the  City  of 
London,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Open  Spaces 
Act  of  1878 — there  are  numbers  of  great 
mutilated,  but  picturesque  beeches,  pollarded  in 
early  days. 

la>  P.C.H.  Bucks,  i,  172-5. 


The  ash  is  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
county,  but  chiefly  in  the  shape  of  hedgerow 
timber. 

The  woods  of  the  north  of  the  county  are 
chiefly  oak  with  an  undergrowth  in  which  the 
sloe  largely  predominates,  and  the  crab-apple  is 
not  infrequent.  There  are  large  plantations  of 
pine  and  larch  at  Brickhill.  Throughout  the 
Thames  Valley  wych  elm  as  well  as  common  elm 
is  numerous,  and  frequently  attains  to  a  great 
size.  In  the  south  of  the  county  the  black 
poplar  is  fairly  common.  On  the  chalk,  the  yew, 
juniper  and  holly  are  frequent,  though  usually 
in  stunted  forms.  The  box  flourishes  and  is 
probably  indigenous  on  the  northern  chalk 
escarpment,  especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ellesborough.  The  hornbeam  is  perhaps  com- 
moner in  Buckinghamshire  than  in  any  other 
county,  particularly  on  the  eastern  border  ;  and 
the  maple  sometimes  grows  to  a  fair  size,  especi- 
ally about  Moulsoe. 

The  recent  official  agricultural  returns  testify 
in  a  remarkable  manner  to  the  steady  growth  of 
England's  woodlands  during  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century,  owing  to  the  greater  attention  that 
has  been  given  to  the  whole  subject  of  arbori- 
culture. During  the  ten  years  between  1895 
and  1905  the  total  area  of  the  woodlands  of 
England  and  Wales  has  increased  by  52,483  acres. 
Of  this  increase  Buckinghamshire  has  had  its 
full  share.  The  woodland  area  of  this  county 
was  29,421  acres  in  1888;  30,732  in  1891  ; 
32,125  in  1895  ;  and  34,548  in  1905.  The 
return  of  1905  divides  the  woodlands  into  three 
classes;  (i)  the  coppice,  under  which  head  are 
included  all  that  springs  up  again  from  the  old 
stools  after  periodical  felling ;  (2)  the  plantations, 
under  which  are  reckoned  all  that  has  been 
planted  or  replanted  within  the  last  fifteen  years  ; 
and  (3)  other  woods.  The  Buckinghamshire 
total  includes  4,586  acres  of  coppice  and  1,322 
acres  of  plantation. 

The  recent  considerable  increase  in  the  wood- 
land of  this  county  is  doubtless  due,  as  elsewhere, 
to  no  small  extent  to  what  has  been  termed  the 
luxurious  value  of  forest  trees  and  coverts  on  the 
larger  estates  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  the  beauty  of 
woodland  landscape  and  to  planting  as  an  assist- 
ance in  the  maintenance  of  game.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  some  portion  of  the  Buckinghamshire 
increase  is  doubtless  due  to  the  commercial  value 
of  beechwood  in  general  turnery,  and  more 
especially  in  the  manufacture  of  chairs. 


144 


SCHOOLS 


INTRODUCTION 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE  is  for  histori- 
cal purposes  a  single-school  county. 
The  Grammar  School  of  the  Royal 
College  of  the  Blessed  Mary  of 
Eton  by  Windsor  bulks  as  largely 
in  the  sphere  of  records  in  the  past  as  it  does  in 
the  world  of  education  to-day.  The  other 
grammar  schools  of  the  county  have  been  de- 
prived, by  the  carelessness,  or  worse,  of  their 
parents  and  guardians,  of  all  their  early  history, 
as  in  later  times  they  were  of  their  proper  status, 
until  restored  by  the  Endowed  Schools  Acts  and 
the  Charity  Commissioners.  It  is  incredible 
that  in  a  county  like  Buckinghamshire  grammar 
schools  should  begin  in  the  year  1440.  But  this 
date,  the  date  of  the  first  foundation  of  Eton 
College,  is  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge  the 
earliest  to  which  we  can  definitely  assign  any 
educational  foundation  in  the  county.  It  can- 
not really  be  the  case  that  Buckingham,  or 
High,  otherwise  Chepping,  Wycombe,  or  New- 
port Pagnell,  or  Aylesbury,  were  without  gram- 
mar schools  till  the  middle  of  the  i6th  century. 
But  as  things  stand,  though  it  may  be  suspected, 
it  cannot  be  proved  that  they  did  possess  them.1 
The  only  grammar  school  besides  Eton  which 
can  be  proved  to  have  existed  in  the  county 
before  the  Reformation  is  one,  long  extinct,  at 
Thornton.  This  was  founded  by  one  of  two 
brothers  who  both  bore  the  same  name,  that  of 
John  Barton.  The  elder  was  a  successful  lawyer 
and  Recorder  of  London.  Presumably  he  had 
come  from  Buckingham,  which  county  he  repre- 
sented in  Parliament  in  1397,  as  by  his  will, 
5  June  1431,'*  he  directed  his  body  to  be  buried 
in  St.  Peter's  Church  in  St.  Rombald's  aisle,  and 
gave  401.  to  the  Hospital  of  St.  Thomas  Becket, 
called  of  Aeon,  London,  to  pray  for  his  soul,  and 
all  his  lands  to  his  brother,  John  Barton,  junior, 
on  condition  of  maintaining  a  chantry  chap- 
lain for  his  and  his  parents'  souls,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  master  of  the  aforesaid  hospital.  These 

1  While  thil  was  passing  through  the  press,  the 
proof  as  to  Buckingham  School  has  been  found.  In 
a  renul  of  John  Barton  (probably  the  elder  of  the 
two  mentioned  below)  of  his  lands  in  Buckingham  at 
Michelmas,  1423,  the  fint  item  is:  '  Of  the  school- 
master (Je  magiitro  icolarum)  40^.'  at  each  of  the  four 
terms  of  the  year,  or  1 3/.  4^.  a  year  (B.M.  Lansd. 
Chart.  572). 

"  Browne  Willis,  Hut.  Biuki.  54. 


lands  appear  to  have  included  the  manor  of 
Thornton,  conveyed  to  the  two  Bartons  and 
others  in  1414.'  John  Barton,  junior,  also 
founded,  or  refounded,  a  chantry,  which  had 
originally  been  founded  in  1344  by  his  prede- 
cessor in  title,  John  le  Chastillon,  with  licence 
from  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  whose  diocese 
Buckinghamshire  was,  the  chantry  chapel  being 
the  chancel  of  the  church.  Barton  directed  this,1 
by  his  will  in  1443,  to  be  rebuilt,  and  there  he 
and  his  wife  still  lie  in  effigy  on  an  altar  tomb. 
The  new  foundation  was  either  not  completed 
at  the  time,  or  else,  being  founded  under  licence 
from  Henry  VI,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  re- 
found  it,  under  a  licence  from  Edward  IV.  He 
on  8  July  1468  4  granted  the  necessary  permis- 
sion, at  the  request  of  Thomas  Littleton, '  Little- 
ton on  tenures,'  Lord  Chief  Justice,  and  other 
feoffees  for  Isabel  the  widow  of  John  Barton, 
who  had  become  Isabel  Shottesbrook,  to  Robert 
Ingilton,  who  had  bought  from  them  the  manor 
of  Thornton.  In  consequence  the  Chantry 
Commissioners  of  Henry  VIII  *  reported  it  as — 

Barton's  Chauntrye,  founded  by  Roberte  Ingleton,  to 
the  intente  to  fynde  a  prieste  for  euer.  And  that  the 
said  prieste  shalle  gyve  yearly  to  6  poore  folkes  contynu- 
ally  6V.  the  weke  for  euery  of  theyme.  And  to  gyve  for 
the  lyuerey  of  6  poore  children  euerye  yeare  to  euerye 
of  theyme  4;.  And  also  the  said  prieste  to  teache  the 
children  of  the  said  towne.  The  said  chauntrye  .  .  . 
is  obserued  accordynge  to  the  foundacyone.  .  .  .  And 
so  is  verye  necessarye.  .  .  .  Ycrly  value  £il  IU.6J. 
[Outgoings]  59/.  5|</.,  and  so  Remayneth  for  the 
accustomablc  paymentes  as  is  before  mencyoncd,  viz. 
for  the  priestes  salary,  £9  1 21.  oj</.  ;  in  almesse  to  6 
poore  folkes,  £~  \6t.  ;  and  to 6  poore  childcrcn,  i\s.\ 
in  all,  £18  lit.  o^J.  William  Abbotte,  Incumbent 
there. 

There  was  besides  'a  mansyone  house,'  but 
this  had  for  1 4  or  1 5  years  been  in  the  hands  of 
Humfray  Tirrell,  whose  family  had  succeeded 
the  successors  of  the  Bartons. 

The  Chantry  Certificate  of  Edward  VI  *  gave 
the  additional  information  that  Sir  William  Abbot, 
the  chantry  priest,  now  '  of  the  age  of  60  years, 
having  none  other  promocion,  but  onelie  that, 

•  Ibid.  295. 

1  Part  of  his  will  is  given  in  Browne  Willis,  op.  cit. 
301. 

4  Pat.  8  Edw.  IV,  pt.  ii,  m.  19. 

'  Chant.  Cert.  4,  no.  10  ;  printed  in  A.  F.  Leach, 
Eagl.  Seboolt  attkt  Rtfirm.  14.  •  Ibid.  15. 


'45 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


whoo  hath  doune  heretofore,  and  yett  doth,  teach 
a  Free  Schole  of  grammer  according  to  the  Foun- 
dacion  of  the  same.'  The  pension  certificate 
founded  on  it  gave  the  net  income  of  the  incum- 
bent as  £10  8s.  o^d.  A  note  adds  :  '•Continuatur 
the  schole  quoust/ue.' 7  Accordingly,  by  a  warrant 
signed  2O  July  1548  by  Sir  Walter  Mildmay  and 
Robert  Kelway,  the  two  officers  of  the  Court 
of  Augmentations  of  the  revenues  of  the  Crown 
accruing  from  the  dissolutions  of  monasteries 
and  chantries,  appointed  to  make  provision  for 
the  continuance  of  the  schools  and  payments  to 
poor  people,  the  school  and  the  alms  were  con- 
tinued. '  Forasmoche  as  it  appearith  by  the 
certificate  of  the  particular  surveyer  of  landes  of 
the  said  courte  in  the  saide  countie  that  a  gram- 
mer schole  hath  been  contynuallie  kept  in 
Thorneton  .  .  with  the  revenues  of  the  late 
chauntery  of  our  ladye  there.  .  .  Wee  therefore 
.  .  haue  assigned  and  appoynted  that  the  saide 
grammer  schole  shall  contynewe,  and  that  Wil- 
liam Abbot,  scholemaster  there,  shall  haue  and 
enjoye  the  rome  of  scholemaster  there,  and  shall 
have  for  his  wages  yerelie  j£io  8*.  o^.'  The 
receiver  of  the  Crown  rents  in  the  courts  was 
required  to  pay  the  income  accordingly. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  this  foundation, 
three  years  later  than  that  of  Eton,  was  a  small 
Eton  with  such  difference  in  size  as  was  propor- 
tionate to  the  riches  of  a  recorder  as  compared 
with  the  resources  of  a  monarch.  But  all  the 
essential  items  were  the  same — the  masses  for  the 
founder's  soul,  the  grammar  school,  free  like  that 
of  Eton  for  all  children  of  the  town  or  oppidans, 
without  payment  of  fees,  the  special  provision  of 
scholars  on  the  foundation,  and  the  almsfolk. 
Only  whereas  at  Eton  the  masses  were  to  be  said 
by  a  provost  and  10  fellows  and  10  chaplains, 
and  quite  independent  of  the  master  who  taught 
the  school,  at  Thornton  the  chaplain  and  the 
master  were  one  person  ;  and  the  70  scholars  at 
Eton,  boarded  and  lodged  as  well  as  clothed 
were  represented  by  6  who  only  received  their 
livery,  i.e.  clothes;  and  the  13  almsfolk,  lodged, 
clothed,  and  boarded  with  stipends  of  ^3  os.  8d.  a 
year,  were  represented  only  by  6  almsfolk  paid  6d. 
a  week,  or  less  than  '  a  penny  a  day,  because  they 
can't  run  any  faster.'  To  complete  the  resem- 
blance, the  foundation  was  remade  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  IV;  and  as  at  Eton  King  Edward  was 
substituted  as  founder  for  King  Henry,  so  the 
Edwardian  lord  of  the  manor,  Ingleton,  was 
credited  with  Barton's  foundation. 

The  school  was  accordingly  continued.  The 
Augmentation  Office  Accounts  show  that  William 
Abbot  was  duly  paid  his  salary.  The  receiver 

7  So  in  some  cases,  but  it  is  generally  abbreviated, 
and  should  perhaps  be  continuetur,  '  let  the  school  be 
continued.'  It  is  not  clear  whether  the  notes  on 
these  certificates  are  a  record  of  what  had  been  done 
or  orders  to  do  something. 


yearly  accounts  8  for  '  ^7  1 6s.  cash  paid  to  the  six 
poor,  and  in  like  cash  (denariis)  paid  to  William 
Abbot,  schoolmaster  of  the  school  of  letters 
(ludimagistro  ludi  litterarii)  of  Thornton,  at 
j£iO  8s.' — the  halfpenny  was  dropped — '  so 
allowed  to  him  by  warrant  of  Walter  Mildemaye 
and  Robert  Kylwey.'  Two  years  later  for  the 
highly  Latinized  substitute  for  grammar  school, 
Indus  Jitterarius,  the  still  more  classically  affected 
palestra  litterarla  is  used  in  the  receiver's  entry. 
William  Abbot  was  paid  year  by  year  all 
through  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI,  Philip  and 
Mary,  and  up  to  1574.  No  doubt  he  then 
died,  being,  as  he  was  60  in  1548,  no  less  than 
86  years  old.  He  was  succeeded  by  John  Kinge, 
who  is  called  by  the  august  title  of  '  school- 
master of  Our  Lady  the  Queen  at  Thorneton.' 
He  was  paid  for  five  years.  Then  came  An- 
thony Gate,  in  whose  time,  in  1587,  the  older 
title  of  schoolmaster  of  the  grammar  school 
(schole  grammaticalis)  was  revived,  and  the  pay- 
ment was  said  to  be  made  out  of  the  church  of 
Penn  by  virtue  of  a  warrant  of  William,  Baron 
of  Burghley,  Lord  Treasurer  of  England,  and  of 
Walter  Mildmay,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 
So  some  new  proceedings  had  taken  place  in  the 
Exchequer  resulting  in  the  payment  now  being 
charged  on  a  particular  piece  of  property,  the 
rectory  of  Penn,  instead  of  the  Crown  revenues 
of  the  county  at  large.  Five  years  later  the 
payment  is  entered  as  made  to  James  Smith, 
'  schoolmaster  of  the  grammar  school  of  the  town 
of  Buckingham,'  which  looks  as  if  there  was  an 
attempt  to  transfer  the  payment  from  the  small 
village  of  Thornton,  where  no  doubt  the  school 
languished,  to  the  county  town.  But  if  so,  the 
scheme  was  frustrated  for  a  while  ;  for  next  year 
the  payment  is  again  made  to  Anthony  Gate, 
'  master  at  Thornton,'  and  so  continues  for  four 
years  more.  But  from  1597  tne  payment  is 
made  again  to  James  Smith,  '  schoolmaster  of  the 
grammar  school  of  the  town  of  Buckingham.' 
This  continues  to  the  end  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 
Then  it  is  made  to  Robert  Tomlyns,  also  de- 
scribed as  '  schoolmaster  of  the  grammar  school 
at  the  town  of  Buckingham,'  and  this  is  stated 
to  be  done  under  warrant  of  Thomas,  Lord 
Buckhurst,  and  John  Fortescue.  So  that  again 
there  must  have  been  an  order  definitely  trans- 
ferring the  school,  or  at  least  its  endowment, 
from  the  small  to  the  large  place.  Precedents 
for  this  were  set  in  the  days  of  Edward  VI  by 
the  transfer  of  the  endowment  of  St.  Mary 
Weeke  Grammar  School,  Cornwall,  to  Launces- 
ton,  and  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  by  a  decree  of 
the  Duchy  Court  of  Lancaster  consolidating  five 
small  neighbouring  school  endowments  at  Ponte- 
fract.  These  have  been  followed  in  our  own 
time  by  the  transfer  of  Hemsworth  to  Barnsley 
under  the  Endowed  Schools  Acts. 


8  Land  Rev.  Rec.  Acct.  Ser.  i,  bdle.  84. 


146 


SCHOOLS 


By  this  process  of  absorption  disappeared  the 
only  proved  pre-Reformation  endowment  in 
Buckinghamshire  ;  a  striking  result  of  the  dealings 
of  Edward  VI  with  schools.  For  by  robbing  this 
school  of  its  lands  and  substituting  a  fixed  pay- 
ment, he  prevented  the  income  growing  with 
the  growth  of  the  riches  of  England  ;  and  in 
time,  by  the  fall  in  the  value  of  money,  the 
endowment  was  reduced  from  a  fair  living  to  a 
miserable  pittance.  Buckingham,  founded  or 
rcfounded  about  1540,  Stony  Stratford  in  1609, 
Amersham  in  1620,  Marlow  in  1628,  Ayles- 
bury  about  1687,  all  suffered  from  the  same 
misfortune  of  a  fixed  income  or  an  endowment 
so  limited  as  not  to  produce  sufficient  increment. 
Wycombe,  founded  in  1 5  5 1 ,  suffered  from  its 
endowment  being  mixed  with  that  of  the  cor- 
poration. All  were  starved. 


ETON  COLLEGE 

It  is  impossible  to  give,  in  the  space  allotted, 
a  history  of  the  greatest  of  the  schools  of  the 
world.  Eton  is  fortunate  in  possessing  one  of 
the  earliest  and  one  of  the  best  of  school  his- 
torians in  Sir  Henry  Maxwell  Lyte,  K.C.B.,  the 
virtual  head  of  the  Record  Office  under  the 
humble  title  of  Deputy  Keeper  of  the  Records. 
His  history,  the  largest  of  school  histories  as  be- 
fits the  largest  of  schools,  originally  published  in 
1875,  was  characterized  by  such  profound 
original  research,  and  so  skilful  a  use  of  the 
results  of  research,  as  to  make  it  a  model  for  all 
subsequent  school  historians  to  follow.  New 
editions  in  1889  and  1904  have  brought  it  up  to 
date  and  incorporated  the  results  of  later  re- 
searchers, particularly  those  of  Mr.  John  Willis 
Clark,  Registrar  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, in  his  monumental  work  on  the  Architec- 
tural History  of  the  University  of  Cambridge. 
With  true  historical  propriety,  this  includes  Eton 
College,  which  owes  its  continued  existence  to 
having  been  regarded  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge  equally  with  its  local 
sister,  King's  College,  Cambridge.  His  re- 
searches into  the  history  of  the  Eton  buildings 
necessarily  threw  much  light  on  the  general  his- 
tory of  the  school.  The  smaller  and  more  recent 
histories — Mr.  W.  Wasey  Sterry's  Annals  »f 
Eton,  1898,  and  Mr.  Lionel  Gust's  History  of 
Eton  College,  1 899 — are,  as  regards  all  but  the 
latest  period,  based  almost  entirely  on  Sir  Henry 
Maxwell  Lyte's  great  work,  and  do  not  profess 
to  add  anything  about  the  earlier  times  from 
original  research,  though  giving  many  interesting 
side-lights  on  the  many-sided  story  of  Eton's 
later  history.  There  is  not  place,  therefore, 
even  if  there  were  space  here,  for  a  new  attempt 
at  a  complete  history  of  Eton.  But  in  so  large 
a  subject,  which  practically  has  only  been  handled 
by  one  pen,  there  is  plenty  of  scope  for  new  dis- 


coveries and  treatment,  especially  as  regards  the 
relations  of  Eton  to  the  general  lines  of  school 
development  and  the  true  history  of  education  in 
England,  which  has  been  revolutionized  since  the 
History  of  Eton  was  written. 

For  this  purpose  the  original  authorities  have 
been  re-examined.  As  the  result  of  examination 
naturally  some  mistakes  have  been  found  and  arc 
here  corrected.  It  has  not  been  thought  neces- 
sary to  draw  attention  in  detail  either  to  the 
mistakes  or  the  fact  of  a  correction  being  made. 
But  wherever  a  date,  name  or  fact  differs  from 
that  given  by  Sir  H.  Maxwell  Lyte  in  what 
may  be  called  the  authorized  version  of  Eton 
history,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that,  unless 
otherwise  stated,  the  '  revised  version '  here 
given  is  founded  on  the  original  audit  rolls,  or 
the  audit  books  which  superseded  the  rolls  temp. 
Henry  VIII.  Some  new  documents  have  also 
been  discovered  even  at  Eton,  and  new  facts 
brought  to  light.  In  particular,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  new  material  has  been  brought  to- 
gether about  the  personality  and  careers  of  the 
earlier  masters  and  ushers,  of  which  hitherto  next 
to  nothing  was  known,  or  attempted  to  be 
known.  The  result  is  that  a  mere  dry  catalogue 
of  '  names  and  nothing  more '  with  uncertain 
circa  dates,  has  been  converted  into  a  supplement 
for  a  small  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 
Further,  the  current  idea  that  the  pre-Reforma- 
tion schools  were  staffed  by  obscure  and  un- 
learned clergy  or  monks  (which  last  had  nothing 
to  do  with  teaching  school)  and  that  their  his- 
tory merits  no  attention,  receives  a  new  reversal. 
A  large  amount  of  new  light  has  been  thrown 
on  the  learning^nd  curriculum  of  pre-Reforma- 
tion Eton  from  Eton  documents  discovered  em- 
bedded in  the  archives  of  other  schools.  Another 
result  of  the  re-examination  of  the  documents  in 
the  light  of  modern  knowledge  has  been  to  show 
how  much  greater  and  more  prolonged  than  was 
supposed  has  been  the  guidance  and  assistance 
which  Eton  received  from  Winchester.  While 
the  actual  migration  of  half  the  college,  fellows 
and  boys,  from  Winchester  to  Eton,  accepted  by 
Maxwell  Lyte  from  a  Wykehamical  source,1  has 
already  been  shown  from  latdr  Wykehamical 
authorities u  to  have  been  a  gross  exaggeration, 
the  real  transfusion  of  spirit  and  method  is 
shown  to  be  far  greater  and  more  continuous 
than  was  ever  dreamed  of.  When  we  find  that 
not  only  the  first  three  provosts  and  the  first  two 
head  masters,  but  also  the  first  two  ushers,  and 
out  of  the  first  twenty-five  head  masters  no  less 
than  twelve,  and  out  of  the  ushers  of  the  same 
period,  so  far  as  they  can  be  traced,  at  least  eight 
hailed  from  Winchester,  we  see  that  the  influ- 
ence of  Winchester  on  the  development  of  Eton 

1  Mackenzie  Walcott,  miTiam  of  tfjktbam  **d  hii 
Collegei,  135. 


'•  See  below,  p.  155. 


'47 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


and  the  debt  of  Eton  to  Winchester  is  greater 
than  that  of  any  one  great  school  has  ever  been 
to  any  other.  Thcjilia  pulchrior  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames  is  in  a  far  deeper  sense  a  daughter 
of  the  mater  pulchra  on  the  banks  of  the  Itchen 
than  was  imagined  by  those  who  on  19  October 
1906  celebrated  at  New  College  the  ancient 
Amabilis  Concordia  between  the  two  colleges  of 
Our  Lady  of  Winchester  and  of  Eton.  Not 
only  was  the  foundation  of  Eton  conceived  and 
executed  by  Wykehamists,  but  it  was  saved  from 
destruction  and  practically  refounded  by  Wyke- 
hamists, it  was  nursed  by  Wykehamists  through 
all  its  earlier  troubles,  and  for  100  years  drew  the 
majority  and  the  most  celebrated  of  its  pastors 
and  masters  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  were 
sons  of  Wykeham  in  a  double  sense,  as  being 
both  scholars  of  Winchester  and  fellows  of  New 
College. 

First  as  to  the  original  idea  of  Eton.  We 
may  put  aside  all  that  has  been  written  about 
learning  being  in  the  lowest  state  of  depression 
before  its  foundation,  or  of  the  school  being  part 
of  a  movement  inaugurated  by  William  of 
Wykeham  to  rescue  learning  from  the  monks, 
or  to  substitute  the  secular  for  the  regular  clergy 
as  teachers.  The  monasteries  never  had  been, 
as  asserted,  '  the  principal  seats  of  education  in 
England  '  ;  the  monks  never  had  been  the  chief 
educators  or  teachers.  The  monasteries  had  at 
one  time,  and  to  some  extent,  been  homes  of 
learning,  but  only  for  the  benefit  of  their  own 
members,  and  they  remained  schools  of  history, 
as  a  pastime  for  the  dreary  hours  of  cloister  life, 
till  the  middle  of  the  I5th  century.  Public 
schools  they  never  were.  Even  when,  in  succes- 
sion to  secular  colleges,  they  governed  public 
schools  or  maintained  them,  they  never  main- 
tained them  out  of  their  own  revenues,  but  out 
of  revenues  held  in  trust  ;  and  the  schoolmasters 
were  not  monks  but  seculars,  sometimes  priests, 
sometimes  laymen.  Those  who  have  read  in 
former  volumes  of  the  Victoria  County  History 
the  accounts  of  the  grammar  schools  of  Win- 
chester and  Durham,  of  St.  Albans  and  Bury  St. 
Edmunds,  of  Reading,  Gloucester,  and  Bristol, 
of  Derby,  of  Thetford  and  Dunwich,  all  connect- 
ed with  various  orders  of  the  regular  clergy,  will 
have  seen  that  where  the  monks  or  the  regular 
canons  obtained  control  of  the  schools,  it  was  in 
supersession  of  the  secular  clergy,  and  that  even 
then  the  actual  teachers  in  the  grammar  or 
public  schools  remained  secular  clerks,  while 
those  taught  in  them  were  always  secular  clerks. 
When  we  come  to  deal  with  the  universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  it  will  be  seen  that  they 
were  purely  a  secular  creation,  as  were  the 
colleges  in  them.  Though  the  new  regular 
orders  of  the  friars  early  pushed  themselves  into 
the  universities,  and  though  the  secular  colleges 
of  Merton  and  Balliol  were  imitated  by  the 
monks  in  the  regular  colleges  of  Gloucester  and 


Durham,  of  St.  Bernard  and  St.  Mary,  the 
universities  and  colleges  themselves,  like  the 
cathedral  and  collegiate  schools  from  which  they 
sprang,  remained  essentially  secular.  A  good 
deal  of  the  illusion  as  to  the  schools  being  monastic 
is  due  to  the  confusion  of  the  term  monastic 
with  the  term  ecclesiastic,  of  monks  with  clerics, 
and  of  the  seculars,  i.e.  secular  clergy,  with  the 
laity.  Schools,  colleges,  and  universities,  were 
matters  of  ecclesiastical  cognizance  and  subject 
to  ecclesiastical  law  ;  they  were  created  by 
clerics  for  clerics,  and  a  layman  by  going  to 
school  became  pro  tanto  a  cleric,  in  days  when  the 
law,  the  treasury,  the  civil  service,  and  diplomacy 
were  merely  branches  of  the  clerical  service. 
But  to  say  that  mediaeval  schools  were  monastic 
because  they  were  ecclesiastical,  or  to  confound 
schoolmasters  with  monks,  because  they  were 
clerics,  is  much  like  confusing  the  modern  clerk 
with  the  modern  cleric,  or  the  modern  learned 
practitioners  of  law  and  medicine  with  the 
modern  clergy.  When  Eton  was  founded  the 
monastic  ideal  had  long  been  on  the  wane. 
Scarcely  a  single  monastery  had  been  founded  in 
the  previous  100  years,  while  many  old  ones,  in 
the  shape  of  alien  priories,  had  been  secularized 
or  converted  into  ecclesiastical  establishments. 

The  foundation  of  Eton  College  was  no  new 
departure.  Eton  furnished  no  new  model  in 
institutions,  it  inaugurated  no  new  era  in  educa- 
tion, it  marked  no  important  phase  in  the  history 
of  learning.  It  was  the  expression  of  the  enthu- 
siasm of  a  pious  youth  who  wore  a  crown,  under 
the  guidance  of  his  ecclesiastical  pastors  and 
masters,  to  connect  his  own  name  with  an  ever- 
lasting monument  of  munificence.  Its  founder 
never  claimed  originality  for  his  foundation.  In 
the  foundation  charter  of  1 1  October  I44O,2 
Henry  VI  says  as  plainly  as  possible  that  he  was 
imitating  his  ancestors'  regard  for  the  Church, 

Whose  royal  devotion  founded  not  only  in  this  our 
Kingdom  of  England,  but  also  in  divers  foreign 
regions,  monasteries,  churches  and  other  pious  places 
...  we  also  who  .  .  .  have  now  taken  into  our 
hands  the  government  of  both  our  Kingdoms,  have 
from  the  very  beginning  of  our  riper  age  carefully 
revolved  in  our  mind  how  ...  or  by  what  royal 
gift,  according  to  the  measure  of  our  devotion  and  the 
example  of  our  ancestors,  we  could  do  fitting  honour 
to  that  Mistress  and  mother,  to  the  pleasure  of  her 
great  Spouse,  and  at  length  ...  it  has  become  a 
fixed  purpose  in  our  heart  to  found  a  college  ...  in 
the  parish  church  of  Eton  by  Windsor  not  far  from 
our  birth-place. 

He,  accordingly, 

'  to  the  praise  honour  and  glory  of  the  Crucified  and 
the  exaltation  of  the  most  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  His 
mother,  and  the  establishment  of  the  most  holy  church,' 
founded  '  a  college  ...  in  and  of  the  number  of  a 
Provost  and  10  priests,  4  clerks,  6  chorister  boys,  there 


2  Pat.  19  Hen.  VI,  pt.  ii,  m.  20. 


148 


SCHOOLS 


daily  to  serve  at  divine  worship,  and  25  poor  and 
needy  (pauperes  et  indigentes)  scholars  to  learn  grammar 
there,  and  further  of  25  poor  and  disabled  men  to 
pray  for  the  souls  of  Henry  V,  Queen  Katharine  and 
all  his  forefathers,  and  all  the  faithful  departed  ;  also 
of  a  Master  or  Teacher  (Informator)  in  grammar  to 
teach  the  said  needy  scholars  and  all  others  whatso- 
ever from  any  p.irt  of  our  realm  of  England  coming 
to  the  said  college  freely  (gratis),  without  exaction  of 
money  or  anything  else.' 

When  the  foundation  was  completed  and  its 
objects  were  precisely  stated,  they  were  expressed 
in  the  very  words  of  William  of  Wykeham  in 
founding  Winchester  College,  by  saying  that  it 
was  to  be  a  seminary  for  the  better  education  of 
an  orthodox  clergy. 

The  first  charter  was  but  a  sketch.  Under  it 
the  provost  and  the  rest  were  to  be  appointed 
and  removed  according  to  statutes  yet  to  be 
made,  and  were  to  dwell  in  a  certain  site,  300  ft. 
long  by  260  ft.  broad,  next  to  Eton  church- 
yard ;  the  patronage  of  which  had  been  recently 
bought  by  the  king.  The  patent  named  Henry 
Sever  as  first  provost,  John  Kette,  clerk,  William 
Haston  and  William  Dene  as  first  priest-fellows, 
Roger  Flecknore,  William  Kente,  John  Haly- 
wyn  and  Henry  Cokkes  as  first  choristers,  and 
William  Stokkes  and  Richard  Cokkes  as  the  first 
'needy  scholars,'  with  two  clerks  and  two 
almsmen.  The  master  or  informer  in  grammar 
was  not  named,  probably  because  none  had  been 
appointed.  The  college  was  incorporated  under 
the  name  of  the  '  Provost  and  King's  College  of 
the  Blessed  Mary  of  Eton  by  Windsor.'  To 
that  corporation  the  parish  church  was  granted, 
with  power  to  transmute  it  into  a  collegiate 
church  and  appropriate  it  to  themselves,  and 
with  licence  in  mortmain  to  hold  other  property 
up  to  1,000  marks,  or  £666  131.  4^.  a  year. 

Two  days  later,  13  October  1440,  the  com- 
missioners of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  whose 
huge  diocese  Buckinghamshire  then  was,  viz. 
William  [Ayscough],  Bishop  of  Salisbury, 
Thomas  Bekynton  and  Richard  Andrew,  doctors 
of  law,  appointed  29  September,  met  the  king's 
proctor  William  Lynde  at  Eton,  '  erected  '  the 
parish  church  into  a  collegiate  church  and 
decreed  that  it  should  be  appropriated  to  the 
college.  On  20  October,  with  the  consent  of 
Bekynton,  in  whose  jurisdiction,  as  Archdeacon 
of  Buckingham,  the  church  was,  and  of  Kette, 
who  was  rector  and  resigned  it,  the  commis- 
sioners admitted  Provost  Sever  to  the  rectory  on 
behalf  of  the  college.  The  whole  proceeding 
was  recited  and  confirmed  by  Pope  Eugenius  IV 
at  Florence  '  at  the  King's  humble  supplication  ' 
on  28  February  1440—1.  The  same  day  another 
bull  gave  the  king  leave  to  provide  and  assign 
whatever  dress  he  liked  for  the  provost,  master, 
and  others,  to  grant  the  use  of  amices  of  grey, 
of  vzir  or  other  furs,  the  distinctive  dress  of 
cathedral  or  secular  canons,  and  to  make  statutes 


about  wearing  them  whether  in  church  or  else- 
where, while  a  third  bull  empowered  the  college 
to  farm  out  its  lands  to  laymen  as  well  as 
ecclesiastics — the  ordinary  canon  law  forbidding 
ecclesiastical  property  being  farmed  out  to  any 
but  ecclesiastics. 

The  first  stone  of  a  new  church  was  laid  by 
Henry  VI  himself  at  some  date  unknown,  but 
before  Passion  Sunday,  2  April  1441,*  when  he 
laid  the  first  stone  of  the  sister  college,  the  King's 
College  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Cambridge ;  the  name 
of  which  was  due  to  the  king's  birthday  being 
6  December,  the  day  of  St.  Nicholas,  and 
perhaps  also  to  the  chantry4  in  Eton  church 
with  an  altar  in  honour  of  this  patron  saint  of 
schoolboys  and  learned  clerks. 

In  all  this  there  was  nothing  novel,  nothing 
exceptional.  It  was  simply  the  ordinary  process 
of  converting  a  parish  church,  the  endowment  of 
a  single  priest,  into  a  collegiate  church,  to  be  the 
home  of  several  priests,  with  the  canonical  free 
grammar  school  and  an  almshouse  attached. 
There  were  scores  of  such  colleges  then  existing 
scattered  through  the  country.  Many  of  them, 
like  Beverley  Minster,  Yorkshire,  Southwell 
Minster,  Nottinghamshire,  dated  from  imme- 
morial antiquity  before  the  Conquest.  But  many 
of  the  older  foundations  had  been  converted,  like 
St.  Frideswide's,  Oxford,  and  St.  Paul's,  Bedford, 
into  monasteries.  So  at  the  time  Eton  was 
founded,  probably  the  majority  of  these  colleges 
were  of  later  date  than  the  middle  of  the  I3th 
century.  For  ever  since  the  monastic  furore  had 
abated,  and  the  founding  of  friaries  had  ceased, 
and  the  reaction  in  favour  of  the  secular  clergy 
had  set  in,  that  is  from  the  middle  of  the  1 3th 
century  onwards,  hardly  a  year  had  passed  with- 
out some  similar  institution  being  founded. 
Walter  of  Merton  in  1275  had  taken  a  new 
departure  in  founding  at  Merton  College  a 
collegiate  church  in  which  education  and  not 
religious  worship  was  the  primary  purpose. 
After  that,  education  had  tended  to  become 
more  and  more  prominent  in  the  new  founda- 
tions. In  1382  William  of  Wykeham,  in 
founding  Winchester  College,  had  taken  a 
double  new  departure,  first,  in  incorporating  a 
collegiate  church  of  schoolboys  instead  of 

'  Robert  Willis  and  John  Willis  Clark,  Archil.  Hilt, 
of  the  Univ.  of  Camb.  i,  321  : 

Unctum  qui  lapidem  poitquam  ponebat  in  Eton 
Hunc  fixit  clcrum  commemorando  mum  ; 

M  Domini,  c  quater  quadraginta  monoi  patet  annit, 
Pasiio  cum  Domini  concelebrata  fuit 

Annul  crat  dccimut  nonui,  meniii  ted  Aprilii  I 
Hie  flectentc  genu  Rcge  Kcunda  diet. 

4  Lincoln  Epis.  Keg.  Repingdon,  fol.  251.  In  14*5, 
inhibition  against  the  admission  of  anyone  to  chantry 
at  altar  of  St.  Nicholas  in  church  of  St.  Mary  Eton, 
pending  a  suit  between  Kathcrinc  widow  of  Sir 
Thomas  Aylesbury  and  Sir  Thomas  Wauton,  Sheriff 
of  Bedfordshire  and  others.  One  wonders  whether  this 
chantry  priest  was  not  also  a  grammar  school  master. 


149 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


university  students,  and,  secondly,  in  directly 
connecting  this  collegiate-church-school  with  a 
university  students'  collegiate  church.  He  had 
also  set,  not  the  first  example  by  any  means — 
the  example  which  may  have  been  the  first  was 
set  by  John  Grandison,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  in  the 
foundation  of  Ottery  St.  Mary's  College  and 
Grammar  School  in  1332 — but  the  first  example 
on  a  large  scale  of  finding  ready  provision  for 
educational  endowments  in  the  purchase  of  alien 
priories.  The  direct  model  and  mother  of  Eton 
was  Winchester  College,  its  grandmother  was 
Merton  College,  but  its  ultimate  model  was  to 
be  found  in  the  cathedral  churches  of  York  and 
London  and  of  Winchester  and  Canterbury  be- 
fore these  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  monks. 

The  alien  priories,  religious  houses  in  England 
belonging  to  monasteries  abroad,  nearly  all  in 
France,  had  to  pay  in  some  cases  their  whole 
surplus  net  revenues,  in  others  fixed  pensions,  to 
the  mother  houses  abroad  ;  and  these  revenues 
were  naturally  made  the  subject  of  taxation  by 
the  French  kings,  and  so  the  revenues  and  re- 
sources of  England  were  used  against  itself.  In 
Wykeham's  time  these  alien  priories  were  only 
sequestrated  during  the  war,  and  he  had  to 
obtain  papal  bulls  authorizing  the  foreign  houses 
to  sell,  and  he  had  to  pay  a  good  price  for  what 
he  bought.  Henry  V  confiscated  them  wholly 
to  the  Crown.  It  has  been  alleged  by  Anthony 
Wood  that  Henry  V  intended  '  to  have  built  a 
college  in  the  castle  of  Oxford  .  .  .  and  there- 
unto to  have  annected  all  the  alien  priories  in 
England.'  This  must  be  an  egregious  exaggera- 
tion. An  endowment  of  that  amount  would 
have  been  overwhelming.  The  statement  seems 
to  be  an  enlargement  of  John  Rows,  the  War- 
wick chronicler,  who  wrote  in  1485  that 
Henry  V  '  intended  to  found  a  noble  college  at 
Oxford  in  which  there  should  be  deep  research 
in  the  seven  sciences,'  the  ordinance  for  which 
Rows  himself  in  his  youth  had  seen.  But,  con- 
sidering that  some  fifty  of  the  most  splendid 
collegiate  churches,  colleges,  and  schools  were 
richly  endowed  out  of  the  alien  priories,  it  is 
quite  impossible  that  Henry  V  could  ever  have 
intended  to  bestow  them  all  on  one  foundation. 
The  story  shows,  however,  how  the  foundation 
of  colleges  was  in  the  air. 

Henry  VI  succeeded  to  the  throne  at  nine 
months  old  on  i  September  1422.  So  full 
were  the  Privy  Council  of  the  advantages  of 
school  education  that  three  years  later6  they 
directed  that  all  the  heirs  of  all  the  lords  of  the 
realm,  at  least  of  the  rank  of  barons,  holding  in 
chief,  who  as  minors  were  in  the  wardship  of 
the  Crown,  should  be  sent  up  and  kept  about  the 
person  of  the  king  and  in  his  house  at  his  ex- 
pense, accompanied  by  at  least  one  master.  It 
is  possible,  when  we  remember  how  Richard 


Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  king's  tutor, 
travelled  in  Italy,  and  how  Cardinal  Beaufort, 
his  uncle,  was  at  home  abroad,  that  the  Privy 
Council  were  consciously  imitating  the  famous 
Giocosa  or  Home  of  Joy,  the  palace  school 
started  by  Vittorino  da  Feltre  at  Mantua  in 
1423,  where  he  taught  the  children  of  the  reign- 
ing Marquis  Gonzaga  and  others,  from  the  age 
of  three  to  the  age  of  twenty-three.  Henry,  poor 
child,  was  only  two  years  old  when  the  Lady 
Alice  Boteler  was  appointed  to  teach  him 
courtesy  and  good  breeding  and  other  things, 
with  full  'leave  to  chastise  us  reasonably  from 
time  to  time  as  the  case  may  require,'  and  on 
1 6  March  1426  her  salary  was  increased  by  £40 
a  year,  charged  on  the  fee-farm  of  Great  Yar- 
mouth. On  i  June  14.28,**  i.e.  as  soon  as  he 
ceased  at  seven  years  old  to  be  an  infant  and 
became  a  boy,  the  lady  was  superseded  by 
Richard  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who 
was  to  teach  him  '  bons  moeurs,  lettrure,  Ian- 
gage,  nurture  et  courtoisie,  et  autres  virtus  et 
enseignements,'  or,  as  it  was  expressed  also  in 
English, '  shall  do  his  devoir  and  diligence  to 
teche  the  Kyng,  and  make  hym  to  be  taught, 
nurture,  lettrure  (literature),  language,  and  other 
manere  of  cunnyng  as  his  age  shall  suffre  him  to 
more  comprehende,  suche  as  it  fitteth  so  greet  a 
prince  to  be  lerned  of.'  Needless  to  say  that '  our 
reasonable  chastisement  as  other  princes  of  our 
realm  and  other  are  accustomed  to  be  chastised 
...  if  we  estrange  ourselves  from  learning  and 
commit  faults,'  was  not  forgotten.  This  Richard 
Beauchamp  contemplated  a  '  regal  college  of 
Trinity '  at  Guy's  Cliff,  but  he  contented  him- 
self with  a  chantry  of  two  priests.  Henry 
Beaufort,  Wykeham's  successor  at  Winchester 
and  Henry's  favourite  uncle,  had  re-endowed, 
and  rebuilt  on  an  ampler  scale,  the  famous  alms- 
house  of  St.  Cross  by  Winchester.  He  had 
also  assisted  or  authorized  Winchester  College  to 
increase  its  endowment  by  the  acquisition  of  the 
alien  priory  of  Andover  as  early  as  1413,  though 
the  college  only  entered  into  possession  in  1437. 
The  Earl  of  Suffolk  who,  after  Duke  Humphrey, 
was  practically  Prime  Minister  and  was  one  of 
Henry's  chief  advisers  and  managers  as  regards 
buildings,  himself  founded  at  Ewelme  in  Oxford- 
shire in  1439  a  hospital  for  12  poor  men  with  2 
priests  to  look  after  them,  one  a  master  and  the 
other  '  a  well  disposed  man  apt  and  able  to 
teachyng,  to  teach  and  inform  children  in  the 
faculty  of  gramer.'  Thomas  Kemp,  Archbishop 
of  York,  in  1431  obtained  licence  in  mortmain 
for  a  college  at  his  native  place  Wye,  in  Kent, 
which  included  a  grammar  school.  Above  all, 
Henry  Chicheley,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
the  earliest  successful  product  of  Winchester  and 
New  College,  for  whom,  as  his  baptizer, 
Henry  VI  had  especial  regard,  founded  a  smaller 


'ActsofP.C.m,  170,  28  June  1425. 


Ibid.  296. 


150 


SCHOOLS 


Winchester  at  his  birthplace,  Higham  Ferrers, 
in  1422-5,  a  college  of  a  master  and  7  fellows, 
'  with  masters  in  grammar  and  song  for  all  coming 
there,'  and  an  almshouse  of  1 2  poor  men,  and  en- 
dowed it  with  the  alien  priory  of  Mersea  in 
Essex  ;  while  he  also  founded  a  smaller  New 
College  at  Oxford  in  the  college  of  All  Souls 
in  1432,  also  partly  endowed  with  alien  priories 
bought  from  the  Crown.  But  perhaps  the 
most  striking  of  the  new  cluster  of  educational 
foundations  was  that  of  William  Byngham, 
rector  of  St.  John  Zachary,  London,  in  the 
Domus  Dei  or  God's  house  at  Cambridge. 
In  his  petition  in  1439  for  licence  in  mortmain 
for  the  foundation  of  a  college  of  a  master  and 
24  scholars  who  were  to  be  trained  in  grammar, 
he  said  that  he  had  found  all  over  the  country 
grammar  schools,  formerly  flourishing,  now  fallen 
into  abeyance  for  lack  of  proper  teachers.  He 
therefore  established  this,  the  first  training  college 
on  record  in  England,  anticipating  the  secondary 
training  colleges  recently  started  by  some  470 
years.  Grammar  was  to  be  taught,  not  only 
because,  as  in  Wykeham's  day,  it  was  '  the  key 
to  the  Scriptures,  the  gate  to  the  liberal  sciences, 
and  to  theology,  mistress  of  them  all,'  but 
because  '  it  was  necessary  in  dealing  with  law 
and  other  difficult  matters  of  state,  and  also  the 
means  of  mutual  communication  and  conversa- 
tion between  us  and  strangers  and  foreigners.' 
The  scholars  when  trained  were  to  issue  from 
the  college  to  teach  schools  all  over  the  country. 
This  remarkable  experiment  came  to  an  un- 
timely end,  at  the  hands  of  Henry  himself, 
being  remove!  to  make  way  for  King's  College 
chapel,  and  eventually  absorbed  in  Christ's 
College. 

With  these  examples  set  him  by  those  who 
had  brought  him  up  as  a  boy  and  guided  him 
as  a  young  man,  Henry  only  followed  the 
fashion  in  founding  a  school  at  Eton  and  a 
college  in  connexion  with  it  at  Cambridge.  The 
particular  form  the  two  took,  and  the  whole 
conception  as  well  as  execution  of  the  design  of 
Eton  and  King's,  is  due  first  and  foremost  to 
Archbishop  Chicheley  and  next  to  the  other 
Wykehamists  who  managed  the  domestic  affairs 
of  the  kingdom  at  that  time,  Thomas  Bekynton, 
William  Say,  Richard  Andrews,  and  Andrew 
Holes  or  Hulse.  The  actual  instrument  was 
Bekynton.  Admitted  a  scholar  of  Winchester 
in  1403  and  of  New  College  in  1405-6,  he  re- 
mained a  law  fellow  of  New  College,  student  of 
civil  and  canon  law  and  doctor  of  the  same  till 
1420,  when  he  became  chancellor  of  the  Pro- 
tector, Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  was 
made  Archdeacon  of  Buckingham  in  1422.  In 
1423  he  was  Dean  of  Arches  and  with  his  deputy, 
the  celebrated  writer  on  canon  law,  William 
Lyndwood,  assisted  in  persecuting  heretics.  In 
1432  he  acted  as  ambassador  to  France.  In  that 
year  Henry  VI,  then  ten  years  old,  appears  as 


founder  of  the  University  of  Caen.  In  1433 
Bekynton  was  prolocutor  of  Convocation.  As 
archdeacon  of  the  county  in  which  Eton  was 
situate,  as  well  as  royal  secretary,  he  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  foundation  of  the  college.  The  nego- 
tiations with  the  pope  for  the  bulls  connected  with 
it  were  conducted  by  Andrew  Hulse,  royal  proctor 
at  the  papal  court,  a  scholar  of  Winchester 
1407  and  of  New  College  1414.  Hulse  was 
nominated  by  the  king  for  the  see  of  Coutances 
on  two  occasions,  but  the  first  nomination  mis- 
carried by  the  tardiness  of  the  messenger,  and  the 
next  was  on  false  information  of  a  vacancy  which 
had  not  occurred,  though  for  the  greater  part  of 
a  year  Bekynton  wrote  to  him  as  his  venerable 
father  as  if  he  was  actually  bishop  elect.6  So 
poor  Hulse  never  attained  any  higher  dignity 
than  that  of  canon  of  Chichester  and  chancellor 
of  Salisbury  Cathedral.  One  at  least  of  the 
messengers  between  them,  John  Burgh,  was  ako 
a  Wykehamist.  Richard  Andrew,  Official  of 
the  court  of  Canterbury,  Bekynton 's  colleague  in 
the  commission  to  appropriate  Eton  Church,  and 
his  subsequent  successor  as  archdeacon  and  Privy 
Seal,  was  also  a  Wykehamist,  and  at  this  very 
time  was  the  first  warden  of  All  Souls  College, 
Oxford. 

In  October  1440  the  king  was  only  18  years 
of  age,  and  he  speaks  of  the  foundation  as  a  '  sort 
of  first-fruits  of  his  taking  the  government  on 
himself.'  We  may,  therefore,  surely  credit  the 
initiative  in  the  foundation  of  Eton  to  Chicheley 
and  Bekynton,  just  as  we  may  credit  to  them 
the  foundation  of  the  university  of  Caen  in 
1432-7,  and  the  university  of  Bordeaux  in 
1441,  of  which  Henry  was  also  the  nominal 
founder. 

The  instructions  to  the  English  envoys  at  the 
Council  of  Basle  found  among  Bekynton's  letters 
were  probably  drawn  up  by  him.  One  of  them 
specially  refers  to  the  alien  priories,  apparently  in 
contemplation  of  the  use  to  which  they  were  to 
be  put  in  connexion  with  Eton  and  King's.  If 
proposals  were  made  for  the  repeal  of  any  of  the 
statutes  of  the  realm,  especially  those  concerning 
priories  or  possessions  of  aliens,  the  envoys  were 
to  say  they  had  no  instructions.  They  could, 
however,  as  from  themselves,  but  not  as  ambassa- 
dors, nor  as  representing  the  king,  say  that  '  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  laws  of  England,  if  any- 
one held  property  on  conditions,  and  failed  to 
fulfil  the  conditions,  the  donor  could  re-enter 
on  the  property,  and  the  churches  and  monasteries 
of  aliens  failing  to  perform  the  conditions  on 
which  they  were  held,  the  gifts  were  ifsa  facto 
revoked  and  granted  to  the  Crown.'  Yet 
Henry  V  had  intended  to  grant  them  '  not  to 
their  former  abuses,  but  to  pious  uses '  and  obtained 

'  This  seems  to  be  the  explanation  of  what  puzzled 
the  editor  of  Bekynton's  correspondence,  that  he,  the 
senior,  addressed  his  junior,  Hulse,  as  'venerable  father.' 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


a  bull  from  Martin  V  enabling  him  to  do  so,  and 
also  to  compensate  the  former  possessors,  and  had 
actually  offered  this  compensation,  and  '  even 
now,  if  they  made  humble  application  to  the 
king,  they  might  receive  it.'  Needless  to  say 
they  did  not  apply  and  did  not  get  it.  But  the 
bulk  of  the  property  did  revert  to  '  pious  uses,' 
and  Eton  and  King's  represents  a  large  slice  of 
it.  In  1437  Bekynton  acted  as  king's  secretary, 
and  in  1439  was  formally  appointed  to  that 
office.  In  that  year  he  accompanied  Cardinal 
Beaufort  on  an  embassy  to  France.  Immediately 
after  his  return  the  foundation  of  Eton  began. 
The  first  step  was  the  purchase  of  the  rectory  of 
Eton  in  September  1440.  Next  month  came, 
as  we  saw,  the  formal  foundation  charter  and  the 
conversion  of  the  parish,  into  a  collegiate,  church. 
So  exact  was  the  imitation  of  Wykeham's  foun- 
dation that  as  he  had  made  a  fellow  of  Merton, 
then  by  far  the  greatest  college  in  the  university, 
the  first  warden  of  his  college  at  Winchester,  so 
resort  was  had  to  a  fellow  of  the  same  college 
for  the  first  provost  of  Eton.  This  was  Henry 
Sever,  fellow  in  1419,  and  proctor  of  the  univer- 
sity in  1427.  Eton  writers  have  been  somewhat 
unkind  to  his  memory,  speaking  of  him  as  a 
person  of  no  importance.  But  he  was  one  of 
the  great  men  of  the  day.  A  king's  clerk,  prob- 
ably in  Chancery,  he  already  held  a  canonry  in 
Bridgnorth  collegiate  church  from  1435,  the 
wardenship  of  Trinity  College,  or  collegiate 
church  of  Stratford  on  Avon  from  1436,  and  a 
canonry  in  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Stephen's, 
Westminster,  from  1438.  Like  Wolsey  after- 
wards, he  was  king's  almoner.  When  he  left 
the  provostship  in  1442  it  was  to  become  Chan- 
cellor of  Oxford  University,  and  in  1449  he  was 
Chancellor  of  St.  Paul's  and  Dean  of  Bridgnorth. 
In  1453  he  became  Warden  of  Merton,  in  which 
capacity  his  benefactions  were  so  extensive  that 
he  was  hailed  as  second  founder.  He  died  6  July 
1471  in  possession  of  all  these  offices. 

Sir  Edward  Creasy  has  been  severely  rebuked 
for  calling  him,  in  his  Memorials  of  Eminent 
Etonians,  '  Dean  of  Westminster,'  when  West- 
minster had  an  abbot,  and  no  dean  till  a  century 
later.  But  it  was  not  uncommon  to  speak  of 
the  canons  of  the  royal  chapel  or  collegiate 
church  of  St.  Stephen,  which  afterwards  became 
the  House  of  Commons,  as  canons  of  West- 
minster, and  the  term  Dean  of  Westminster 
was  therefore  correct,  if  Sever  had  been  dean,  but 
the  list  of  deans  does  not  seem  to  include  his 
name. 

There  seems  to  be  no  possibility  of  ascertaining 
when  exactly  the  school  itself  began,  and  as  only 
two  scholars  are  named  in  the  first  charter  of 
October  1440,  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  the 
school  was  then  opened  ;  indeed,  there  were  no 
endowments  then  given  to  support  it,  nor  any 
buildings  in  which  to  hold  it.  The  bull,  in 
exact  imitation  of  a  similar  one  given  to  Win- 


chester College,  enabling  the  college  to  let  its 
lands  to  laymen,  was  given  before  there  were 
any  lands  to  let.  A  large  number  of  the  papal 
bulls  obtained  by  Wykeham  for  Winchester 
College  related  to  the  right  of  services  in  the 
college  chapel,  burial  in  its  cloisters,  a  belfry  and 
bells  and  retaining  burial  fees,  &c.,  and  were 
unnecessary  for  Eton,  which,  inheriting  the  rights 
of  a  parish  church,  numbered  these  among  them. 
Winchester  had  the  usual  building  bull  ;  a  bull 
in  the  same  form  which  afterwards  so  exercised 
Luther,  except  that  it  granted  only  100  days' 
relaxation  of  penance  and  an  indulgence  of  40 
years,not  perpetual  indulgence,  to  those  who  visited 
the  place  and  contributed  to  the  buildings.  On 
28  May  1441  a  similar  bull  was  granted  for 
those  visiting  Eton  and  contributing  to  Eton  on 
the  same  terms  as  were  given  to  those  who  on 
the  day  of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula,  1  August,  visited 
the  church  of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula  in  Rome.  It 
is  a  disadvantage  of  this  legislation  by  reference 
that  we  do  not  know  what  those  terms  were. 
We  soon  find  Bekynton  writing  to  press  for 
greater  advantages,  and  on  9  May  1442  a  'plenary 
indulgence  '  was  granted  to  those  visiting  Eton 
on  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  (15  August) 
and  contributing.  The  contributions  were, 
however,  to  be  divided  between  papal  and  royal 
objects,  viz.  three-fourths  for  a  crusade  against 
the  Turks,  one-fourth  only  to  the  king's  college. 
Moreover  it  was  limited  to  the  king's  life.  So 
once  again  Bekynton  had  to  ask  for  more,  and 
on  1 1  May  1444  the  bull  was  made  perpetual. 
But  the  king's  ideas  continually  enlarging,  three 
years  later  a  further  bull,  25  January  1446-7, 
was  obtained,  giving  seven  years'  and  seven 
Lents'  indulgence  to  those  who  visited  Eton  on 
any  of  the  Virgin's  feast  days,  and  on  St.  Nicholas' 
Day  (6  December)  or  the  Translation  of  Edward 
the  Confessor. 

As  soon  as  the  king  had  got  his  bull  for  found- 
ing Eton,  he  founded  his  other  college  at  Cam- 
bridge, of  a  rector  and  12  scholars,  by  patent  of 
12  February  1440—1,  incorporating  them  as  '  the 
rector  and  scholars  of  the  King's  College  of 
St.  Nicholas  of  Cambridge,'  with  William  Mil- 
lington  as  first  rector,  and  John  Kyrkeby  and 
William  Haytclyffe,  who  seem  to  have  been  all 
Yorkshiremen,  as  the  first  scholars  or  probationary 
fellows.  There  was  at  first  no  organic  connexion 
between  the  two  colleges,  as  there  was  between 
Winchester  and  New  College  ;  and  if,  as  seems 
likely,  the  influence  of  Chicheley  was  at  first  the 
predominant  influence  in  the  foundation,  it  is 
possible  that  none  was  intended.  While  in  both 
patents  power  was  reserved  to  increase  the  num- 
bers, no  power  was  reserved  to  alter  the  founda- 
tion. Moreover,  it  is  probable  that  at  this  time  the 
prudence  of  his  council  prevailed,  and  Henry's 
advisers  had  no  intention  of  letting  him  emulate 
the  stupendous  size  of  Wykeham's  foundations 
with  their  70  scholars  each,  but  made  him  con- 


152 


SCHOOLS 


tent  himself  with  the  more  modest  proportions 
of  25  scholars  at  Eton  and  12  at  Cambridge. 

Indeed,  the  earliest  connexion  of  Eton  with 
a  university  was  with  Oxford,  for  on  3  February 
1441-2  the  king  granted  the  manor  of  '  Ponyng- 
ton '  (Hants)  parcel  of  the  alien  priory  of 
Ogbourne  to  John  Carpenter,  master  or  warden 
of  St.  Anthony's  Hospital,  London,  for  the 
exhibition  of  five  scholars  at  Oxford  (each  having 
lod.  a  week  until  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.) 
who  had  received  the  rudiments  of  grammar  at 
Eton,  and  were  appointed  according  to  the  Eton 
statutes.  So  the  earliest  edition  of  these  statutes 
provided  for  scholars  to  Oxford  instead  of  to 
King's,  Cambridge.  This  grant  was  apparently 
resumed  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward IV,  and  these  Eton  scholarships  at  Oxford 
then  ceased. 

On  5  March  1440-1  'the  Kyngc's  College 
of  oure  Ladye  of  Eton  besyde  Wyndesore '  was 
endowed  by  letters  patent  bestowing  on  it  a 
great  mass  of  property  which  had  belonged  to 
alien  priories.  A  large  part  consisted  only  of 
annual  pensions  payable  from  English  cells  to 
their  principal  houses  abroad.  Thus  the  first 
item  is  an  annual  pension  of  1 8  marks  from  the 
alien  vicarage  of  Marlon,  the  next  are  pensions 
of  40*.  from  Aveley  Church,  Essex,  and  from 
Fulbourn  Church,  Cambridgeshire,  and  the  whole 
tithes  of  Bures  St.  Mary,  Essex,  all  belonging  to 
the  alien  priory  of  Panfield  in  Essex.  Then 
came  an  annual  tribute  which  the  priory  of 
Montacute  was  bound  to  pay  the  Crown  for  the 
ancient  apportus  (i.e.  export)  '  payable  in  time  of 
peace  to  the  head  house  of  that  priory  in  parts 
beyond  the  sea,'  and  a  similar  apportus  of  20s. 
which  the  Prior  of  Goldcliff  had  to  pay  to  his 
head  house.  Next  followed  three  alien  priories 
which  were  bodily  transferred  to  the  new  college, 
viz.  '  the  alien  priory  and  manor  of  Toftes,'  Nor- 
folk, of  Sporle,  Norfolk,  and  of  Brimpsfield, 
Gloucestershire.  Then  came  the  manors  of 
Blakenham,  Suffolk,  and  Cottisford,  Oxfordshire, 
part  of  the  alien  priory  of  Ogbourne  (Okeburn), 
i  Hampshire  ;  all  the  manors  in  Wiltshire  belonging 
to  the  Dean  of  Mortain  ;  and  1 31.  \d.  the  apportus 
due  from  Thetford  Priory  to  Cluny.  There 
followed  the  rent  of  ^8  13;.  \d.  payable  by  Sir 
William,  Lord  of  Lovell,  kt.,  '  for  the  custody  of 
the  alien  priory  of  Minster  Lovell,  with  its  appur- 
tenances, granted  to  him  for  18  years  from  the 
death  of  Jane,  late  Queen  of  England,  and  the 
reversion  of  the  same  priory  when  it  falls  in.' 
The  rest  of  the  items  are  similar,  a  large  number 
consisting,  at  first,  of  the  yearly  rents  only  of 
alien  priories,  leased  like  that  of  Minster  Lovell 
to  the  neighbouring  landed  proprietors  fora  term 
of  years,  the  full  benefit  of  which  would  only 
accrue  to  the  college  on  the  expiration  of  the 
leases.  The  actual  rents  accruing  at  once 
amounted  10^513  2s.  id.,  in  addition  to  four 
whole  priories,  two  manors,  and  some  odd 


lands  given  in  immediate  possession,  worth  per- 
haps between  them  another  £100  a  year.  The 
total  income  was  slightly  larger  than  that  on 
which  Winchester  College  was  started. 

On  Saturday,  31  July  1441, 'Henry  VI  went 
to  Winchester  College,  where  '  he  was  present  at 
first  vespers  and  next  day  at  mass  and  second 
vespers  and  offered  131.  4^.,'  a  mark  of  gold,  the 
usual  royal  offering.  The  result  of  this  week-end 
visit  was  momentous  to  Eton.  For  it  resulted  in 
the  transfer  in  October  or  November  1 44 1  of  Wil- 
liam Wayneflete,  the  then  head  master  of  Win- 
chester, to  Eton,  and  it  was  to  Wayneflete  rather 
than  to  Henry  VI  that  Eton  owed  its  final  con- 
stitution, its  preservation  from  destruction,  and  its 
restitution  by  Ed  ward  IV,  and  the  completion  of  its 
buildings.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Wayne- 
flete went  to  Eton,  as  commonly  stated,  as  the 
first  head  master.  The  evidence  strongly  suggests 
that  he  went,  not  as  head  master,  but  as  provost. 
But  a  curious  darkness  overhangs  the  whole  of 
Wayneflete's  life  until  he  became  head  master  of 
Winchester.  It  is  extremely  doubtful,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  whether  he  ever  was,  as  has  been 
asserted,  a  scholar  at  Winchester  or  of  New  Col- 
lege. His  family  name  is  said  to  have  been 
Pattene,  otherwise  Barbour.  No  such  name  is 
found  in  the  Scholars'  Register  at  Winchester, 
unless  he  can  be  identified  with  William  Pattene 
of  Patney,  Wiltshire,  admitted  in  1403.  The 
identification  is  unlikely,  as  it  would  make  him 
at  least  ninety-five  years  old  when  he  died,  and 
it  would  be  very  strange,  as  it  is  certain  that 
Wainfleet  in  Lincolnshire  was  his  birthplace,  or 
at  least  his  breeding-place,  that  he  should  have 
been  Pattene  of  that  ilk  in  Wiltshire.  Nor  is 
his  name  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  New  Col- 
lege as  a  scholar  or  fellow.  It  is  a  rather  violent 
assumption  that  he  was  a  commoner  at  either 
college.  There  are  nearly  complete  lists  of  trip 
commoners  at  Winchester  to  be  deduced  from  the 
steward  of  hall's  books,  which  show  those  dining 
in  hall  in  each  week,  and  neither  Wayneflete, 
Barbour,  nor  Pattene,  occurs  among  them.  It  is 
doubtful  if  there  were  any  commoners  at  New 
College  at  the  time.  None  appear  in  the  hall 
books  there,  nor  does  Wayneflete's  name  appear 
in  them.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  certain  that 
Wayneflete  was  at  Oxford  from  a  letter  addressed 
about  April  1447  to  him  by  the  university8  when 
Provost  of  Eton,  in  which  they  say,  '  we  believe 
that  you  have  always  before  your  eyes  the  great 
love  by  which  you  are  bound  to  the  mother  who 

7  Not  1440,  as  given  in  Chandler's  Life  of  H'atne- 
tttte  and  Mackenzie  Walcott's  William  of  Wykeham  and 
His  Colleges,  1  36  ;  Kirby,  Annals  «/  Winchester  College, 
192,  and  Maxwell  Lyte's  Eton,  5.  The  dates  relating 
to  the  Eton  foundation  have  been  as  much  confused 
as  those  of  Winchester,  owing  to  its  not  being  ob- 
served that  the  year  of  the  king  did  not  coincide  with 
the  year  of  our  Lord. 

•  Ef'ut.  AcaJ.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  i,  158. 


'53 


20 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


conceived  you  in  her  spiritual  womb  and  brought 
you  forth  into  the  light  of  knowledge,  and  until 
you  grew  to  the  strength  of  manhood,  in  which 
you  excel,  nourished  you  with  most  precious 
meals,  with  the  greatest  favour  and  the  alimony 
of  all  the  sciences.'  This  almost  looks  as  if 
Wayneflete  had  even  spent  his  school  days  as  well 
as  his  college  days  at  Oxford.  Wayneflete  first 
appears  in  public  records8"  on  receiving  letters  of 
protection  when  sent  in  the  train  of  Robert 
Fitz  Hugh,  D.D.,  Warden  of  the  King's  Hall 
at  Cambridge,  and  John  Bonner,  Dec.D.,  and 
others,  on  an  embassy  to  the  pope  at  Rome,  to 
explain  why  the  force  of  500  spears  and  5,000 
archers  raised  by  Cardinal  Beaufort  for  a  crusade 
against  the  Hussites  of  Bohemia  had  been  diverted 
to  English  purposes,  viz.  the  'necessarie  eschu- 
ing '  of  the  loss  of  France.  The  letters  of  pro- 
tection are  dated  15  July  1429,  and  describe 
Wayneflete  as  Bachelor  of  Laws.  Next  year 
there  are  entries  in  the  Bursars'  Roll  at  Winches- 
ter of  '  2s.  6d.t  for  the  expenses  of  Sir  John 
Edmond  riding  to  Oxford  to  inquire  and  com- 
municate with  divers  people  to  get  a  Magister 
Informator,'  and  of  '61.  for  expenses  of  Sir 
Thomas  Baylemond  riding  to  Oxford  in  the 
month  of  June  to  provide  an  Informator,  includ- 
ing 2s.  for  the  hire  of  a  horse  for  the  purpose  for 
6  days.'  For  the  quarter  beginning  24  June 
1430"  'Mr.  William  Wanneflete '  was  paid  501. 
as  '  teacher  of  the  scholars  {Informator  scolarium).' 
So  that  he  was  imported  direct  from  Oxford. 
He  continued,  under  curious  variants  of  name, 
Wanflet,  Waneflett,  Weyneflete,  Wayneflete,  to 
be  paid  as  head  master  jCio  a  year  for  eleven 
and  a  quarter  years,  until  Michaelmas  1441. 
From  Michaelmas  1441  to  1442  the  head  master 
was  Thomas  Alwyn  or  Walwayn  of  Newport 
Pagnell,  Buckinghamshire,  who,  for  five  years, 
24  June  1425  to  24  June  1430,  had  been 
Wayneflete's  predecessor  in  the  head-mastership. 
This  looks  as  if  the  vacancy  was  suddenly 
created  and  resort  was  therefore  had  to  an  old 
and  tried  man  to  fill  it.  Wayneflete  occurs 
several  times  in  the  Winchester  Hall  books  as  a 
guest  at  the  high  table  in  September  and  October 

1441.  He  then  seems  to  have  gone  to  Eton, 
a  year  earlier  than  has  been  hitherto  supposed.10 
If  he  went  as  head  master,  this  also  makes  Eton 
School  a  year  older   than   it  has   hitherto  been 
credited   with    being.     But    the  school  did  not 
begin  probably  till  1443.     In   1441    there  were 
no  buildings,  and  apparently  no  site  on  which  to 
erect  buildings,  to  accommodate  the  boys  or  the 
masters. 

te  Acts  ofP.C.  iii,  347. 

9  Not  in  1429  as  Walcott,  Kirby,  and  others. 

10  Walcott's  Wm.  ofWykcham  and  His  Colleges,  135; 
Maxwell  Lyte,   Hist,  of  Eton  (1899),  17  ;  Diet.  Nat. 
Biog.,  &c.,  all   put  him    down  as  going  to  Eton  in 

1442.  Chandler's  Life  of  Wayneftete  on   the  other 
hand  takes  him  there  a  year  too  early,  in  1440. 


The  Eton  College  building  accounts  are 
happily  extant.  A  wages  book,  headed  '  Day 
book  of  the  first  year  '  (Jornale  anno  printo), 
showing  that  it  was  started  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  works,  begins  on  3  July  1441  and  extends 
to  5  February  1441-2.  The  workmen11  'con- 
sisted mainly  of  labourers,  of  whom  32  were  em- 
ployed weekly  until  the  middle  of  November. 
.  .  .  The  number  of  labourers  may  perhaps 
indicate  the  digging  of  foundations,  which  are 
specially  mentioned  in  the  next  year.'  There 
were  a  few  masons  and  carpenters  employed, 
but  it  is  conjectured  that  they  were  employed 
on  the  old  church,  which  was  being  enlarged 
and  beautified.  It  is  probable  that  the  founda- 
tions dug  in  1441-2  were  those  of  the  new 
collegiate  church  ;  for  the  rest  of  the  site  was 
not  yet  fully  conveyed.  On  the  Conversion  of 
St.  Paul  (25  January)  1441-2  la  the  first  of  a 
series  of  Private  Acts  of  Parliament  confirmed 
the  grants  already  made  by  the  king  of  the  old 
parish  church  and  of  the  endowment  and  the 
incorporation  of  the  college.  But  it  was  not 
till  six  days  later,  by  patent  of  31  January 
1441—2,  that  a  further  part  of  the  site  was 
acquired  by  the  conveyance  of  Huntercomb's 
garden  (Hundercombs  gardyn),  Rolf's  shaw 
(Rolveshawe),  and  a  tenement  of  Walter,  while 
on  9  May  1442  the  grant  of  the  Kingsworth, 
which  is  identified  as  part  of  the  playing  fields, 
completed  the  site.  These  grants,  with  others 
of  pardon  for  introducing  papal  bulls,  of  fairs 
and  markets  and  exemption  from  divers  royal 
and  other  liabilities  and  imposts,  were  confirmed 
by  Private  Act  of  Parliament  5  March  1445-6." 
On  1 6  April  1442  digging  foundations  was  still 
the  main  work,  payment  being  made  for  31 
loads  of  loam  '  from  the  foundacion  of  the 
college,'  and  on  22  July  1442  there  were  still  45 
labourers  digging  foundations  ;  though  53  free- 
masons, 15  rough  masons,  and  45  carpenters, 
also  hard  at  work,  show  extensive  buildings  in 
progress.  Apart  from  the  church,  however,  the 
school  and  college  buildings  were  wholly  of 
brick  with  quoins  and  mullions  of  stone.  It 
was  not  till  April  1442  that  ground  was  hired 
at  Slough  to  make  a  brick  kiln,  nor  till  28  May 
1442  that  the  first  instalment  of  bricks,  66,000, 
was  delivered.  In  that  year  463,600  bricks  and 
in  1443-4  over  a  million  bricks  were  taken  ;  so 
that  it  is  to  the  years  1442—4  that  the  building 
of  the  school  and  college  must  be  attributed. 
Even  if  the  school  was  begun  first  it  could  not 
conceivably  have  been  ready  for  use  before 

"  Robert  Willis  and  John  Willis  Clark,  Arch.  Hist, 
of  the  Univ.  ofCamb.  i,  380-5. 

11  The  date  is  given  in  the  second  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment passed  5  Mar.  1445-6  ;  Heywood  and  Wright, 
Statutes,  415. 

14  Ibid.  414-59.  Through  the  usual  mistake  of 
the  year  of  the  king  they  call  this  the  Parliament 
of  1444. 


SCHOOLS 


Michaelmas  1442,  and  was  most   probably  not 
ready  before  Michaelmas  1443. 

The  register  of  Thomas  Bekynton  records 
that  on  Sunday,  13  October11  1443,  he  was 
consecrated  '  in  the  old  collegiate  church  of 
Blessed  Mary  of  Eton,'  and  '  afterwards  he  cele- 
brated his  first  mass  in  pontificals,  in  the  new 
church  of  the  Blessed  Mary  there,  not  yet  half 
built,  under  a  tent  at  an  altar  erected  directly 
above  the  spot  where  King  Henry  VI  laid  the 
first  stone.  And  he  held  a  feast  in  the  new 
fabric  of  the  college  there  on  the  north  side, 
while  the  chambers  were  not  yet  partitioned 
underneath.'  That  is,  the  chapel  was  not  half 
finished,  and  the  chambers  only  had  their  walls  up. 

It  is  suggested  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  that  '  the 
north  side  and  chambers'  referred  to  were  the 
school  and  chambers  in  the  school  yard  which 
preceded  the  present  Long  Chamber  and  head 
master  and  usher's  chambers  and  the  old  Lower 
School  underneath  it.  But  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  they  were  not  in  the  school  yard 
till  the  1 6th  century,  while  there  is  positive 
evidence  that  the  school  was  not  finished  two 
years  later. 

There  is  no  documentary  evidence  of  Wayne- 
flete's  ever  being  head  master.  The  first  men- 
tion of  him  in  documents  at  Eton  is  as  provost, 
on  2  May  1443,  when  he  agreed  with  his  friend 
Bekynton  for  the  exemption  of  the  college  and 
parish  from  his  archidiaconal  authority,  which 
is  still  vested  in  the  provost  ;  while  by  deed  of 
10  September  1443  £i  2s.  lid.  a  year,  in  lieu 
of  the  visitation  fees,  was  settled  on  the  arch- 
deaconry, payable  out  of  the  manor  of  Bledlow. 

On  30  November  1 443  Wayneflete,  as  pro- 
vost, and  William  Lynde,  a  fellow  and  clerk  of 
the  works,  contracted  with  Robert  Whetelcy,  the 
chief  carpenter,  for  all  the  carpentering  work  of 
ten  chambers  on  the  east  side  of  the  college,  of 
the  hall  and  cloisters,  and  for  making  seven 
turrets,  showing  that  the  east  side,  though  more 
advanced  than  the  north  side,  was  not  yet  habit- 
able. The  public  records  bring  Wayncflcte's 
provostry  back  even  further,  for  while  the  house- 
hold accounts  w  show  Henry  Sever  as  one  of  the 
royal  chaplains  receiving  a  gown  from  Christmas 
1440,  and  at  Whitsuntide  1442  receiving  4  casks 
of  wine  as  provost,  at  Christmas  1442  16>  Wayne- 
flete received  a  livery,  described  next  year 
as  5  yards  of  violet  cloth  as  provost  of  Eton, 
while  Sever  continued  to  receive  a  gown  as 
royal  chaplain.  This  shows  that  Wayne- 
flete became  provost  at  some  date  between 
Whitsuntide  and  Christmas  1442,  probably  at 
Michaelmas,  as  Sever  was  made  Chancellor  of 

u  Bekynton'i  Corresfxmdence  (Roll§  Ser.),  i,  p.  cxix. 
Not  Nov.  as  Maxwell  Lyte,  op.  cit.  19.  The  day  is 
specially  said  to  have  been  the  Translation  of  St. 
Edward  (the  Confessor). 

"•  Exch.  K.R.  Wardrobe  Accts.  19-20  Hen.  VI. 

"•Ibid.  2I-*  Hen.  VI. 


Oxford  towards  the  end  of  the  year.  This 
would  leave  less  than  a  year  for  Wayneflete  to 
be  head  master,  if  he  ever  was  head  master. 

On  21  December  1443  Bishop  Bekynton, 
with  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  as  commissioners  of 
the  founder,  formally  gave  statutes  to  the 
college  and  swore  Wayneflete  to  them  as  pro- 
vost, who  in  turn  took  the  oaths  of  the  other 
members  of  the  college,  namely  5  fellows,  2 
clerks,  2  choristers,  and  1 1  scholars.  But  it  is 
specially  recorded  that,  as  the  buildings  were  not 
finished,  nor  the  full  endowment  received,  the 
king  dispensed  the  college  temporarily  from  the 
observance  of  some  of  the  statutes,  viz.  (i)  as  to 
keeping  the  intended  full  number  of  fellows, 
scholars,  and  poor  ;  (2)  the  fellows  being  only  5, 
instead  of  10,  they  were  only  to  be  bound  to  5 
masses  a  day  instead  of  10  ;  (3)  the  scholars 
were  not  required  to  say  the  prayers  and  adora- 
tions set  down  for  them  till  the  morrow  of  the 
Epiphany,  '  so  that  meanwhile  they  may  be  in- 
structed and  fully  informed  in  them,'  while  (4) 
c  as  neither  church  nor  hall,  towers,  chambers, 
chests,  common  archives,  keys,  bursary,  treasury, 
nor  gates  were  yet  fully  built,'  the  statutes  relat- 
ing to  these  were  suspended.  At  the  same  time 
a  special  statute  provided  that  as  John  Clerk  had 
given  up  a  sufficiently  fat  living  (beneficio  satis 
competent?)  to  take  a  fellowship,  he  should  be  vice- 
provost  not  for  a  year  only,  as  the  statutes  or- 
dained, but  for  life.  This  first  and  perpetual 
vice-provost  was  another  Wykehamist,  a  native 
of  Newbury,  scho'ar  of  Winchester  1406,  of 
New  College  1410  ;  and  the  benefice  he  gave  up 
was  that  of  Adderbury,  Oxfordshire,  one  of  the 
richest  New  College  livings.  The  proceedings 
were  witnessed  by  Richard  Andrew,  LL.U., 
then  King's  Secretary  ;  Walter  Lyhert  or  Le 
Hart,  Provost  of  Oriel,  and  William  Say,  an- 
other Wykehamist,  then  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

It  has  been  constantly  repeated  that  Wayneflete 
took  with  him  to  Eton  half  Winchester  College, 
viz.  5  fellows  and  35  scholars.  It  was  reserved 
for  Mr.  Kirby,17  an  Etonian,  but  Bursar  of  Win- 
chester College,  to  show  that  this  was  almost 
certainly  untrue,  and  quite  certainly  without 
authority.  There  are  no  such  '  gaps  in  the 
[Winchester]  Register  which  such  a  migration 
would  make  ;  only  six  scholars  are  recorded  in 
the  margin  of  the  Register  to  have  quitted  Win- 
chester for  Eton.  It  is  possible  that  the  number 
of  35  may  have  been  made  up  from  the  ranks  of 
the  commoners  and  day-boys,  but  no  evidence 
exists  as  to  this.  Nor  is  it  recorded  of  any  fel- 
low that  he  quitted  it  for  Eton.  Two  old 
scholars  exchanged  fellowships  of  New  College 
for  fellowships  of  Eton  College.'  Even  this 
reduced  statement  is  not  quite  accurate.  Only 

"  Kirby,  Annalt  of  Winchester  Coll.  (1894),  199. 
In  the  last  edition  of  Maxwell  Lyte  (1899),  p.  17, 
Mr.  Kirby's  statement  has  been  substituted  for  the 
older  story. 


'55 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


five  scholars  are  in  fact  recorded  as  quitting 
Winchester  for  Eton.  The  sixth  and  senior 
Winchester  scholar  who  went  to  Eton  had 
been  admitted  at  Winchester  I  February  1432-3, 
and  had  left  the  school  for  some  unspecified  time 
before  going  to  Eton.  '  Recessit  ad  obsequium 
primo,  postea  ad  collegium  de  Eton.'  He  had 
presumably  failed  to  get  off  to  New  College,  and 
abandoned  the  path  of  learning  for  secular  service 
of  some  kind,  presumably  with  some  magnate, 
but  now  returned  to  it,  on  prospect  of  a  fellow- 
ship at  King's  College.  Also,  of  the  two  fellows 
of  New  College  mentioned  by  Mr.  Kirby,  neither 
went  at  or  near  the  opening  of  Eton.  One, 
Foster  or  Forster,  went  to  Eton  not  in  1443  but 
in  1453,  and  not  as  fellow  but  as  head  master  ; 
the  other,  Morer,  went  up  to  New  College  as  a 
scholar  in  1443,  and  only  became  a  fellow  of 
Eton  in  1465.  So  that  neither  of  these  can  be 
reckoned  in  the  migration.  Nor  is  it  at  all 
probable  that  the  number  of  35  or  anything  like 
it  was  made  up  from  commoners.  As  to  com- 
moners proper,  commoners  in  college  at  Win- 
chester were  limited  by  statute  to  ten  in  number. 
The  hall-books  of  the  time,  showing  those  who 
dined  in  hall  every  week,  are  extant.  They 
show  that  there  was  no  clear-out  of  commoners. 
Fauley,  who  appeared  for  the  last  time  in  hall  in 
the  second  week  in  October  1441,  when,  by  the 
way,  Mr.  William  Wayneflete  was  dining  as  a 
guest,  showing  that  he  had  not  yet  gone  to  Eton, 
though  he  had  ceased  to  be  head  master  of  Win- 
chester, may  probably  be  identified  with  Richard 
Fauley  of  Dorsetshire,  who  was  elected  from 
Eton  to  King's  on  26  September  1444  at  the  age 
of  sixteen.  Only  one  other  commoner,  Lysle, 
left  during  the  same  time.  The  possible  migra- 
tion of  commoners  in  college  is  therefore  limited 
to  two,  and  is  probably  limited  to  one.  There 
were,  however,  other  commoners  attending  the 
school,  living  in  St.  Elizabeth's  College,  next 
door,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  and  there  were 
probably  oppidans  or  town  boys  attending  as  day- 
boys. Of  these  we  have  no  record.  It  is  not, 
however,  very  probable  that  any,  and  it  is  certain 
that  not  many,  could  have  gone  to  the  new  school 
as  scholars,  since  only  1 1  scholars  in  all  were 
sworn  to  the  statutes.  They  were  Thomas 
Constantin ;  John  Pay  n,  a  Londoner,  of  St.  Alban's, 
Wood  Street,  who  had  been  a  Winchester 
scholar  from  1438  ;  Thomas  Say,  a  relation  of 
the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's ;  Thomas  Seggefeld ; 
John  Goldsmith,  who  went  to  King's  next  year  ; 
Edward  Hancok,  who  also  went  to  King's  next 
year,  whom  one  suspects  of  being  a  relative  of 
Thomas  Hancok  of  Pusey,  Berkshire,a  Winchester 
scholar  in  1447  ;  Richard  Fauley,  from  Dorset, 
one  of  the  IQ  filii  nobilium  ;  William  Stock  from 
Warmington,  Northamptonshire  ;  John  Plentie 
from  Warwickshire ;  and  John  Brown  from 
Berkshire,  who  went  to  King's  in  1444  ;  and 
William  Wether,  who  is  untraced.  However, 


it  is  really  remarkable  to  find  that  in  a  '  tradition  ' 
of  this  sort  there  is  so  much  substratum  of  fact, 
that  it  is  true  to  the  extent  of  about  one-six- 
teenth ;  and  that  five  scholars,  one  ex-scholar, 
and  probably  one  commoner  of  Winchester  did 
actually  go  to  give  Eton  a  start,  and  import 
Wykehamist  traditions  there.  But  of  the  six 
scholars  who  went  in  1443,  only  three  were  ever 
more  than  colourably  scholars  at  Eton.  For 
three  of  them,  John  Langport,  Richard  Cove, 
and  Robert  Dummer,  had  already  been  admitted 
scholars  of  King's  on  19  July  1443.  This  was 
under  the  second  charter  for  that  college,  dated 
nine  days  before,  10  July  1443,  which  converted 
the  rector,  William  Millington,  into  a  provost,18 
changed  the  name  from  St.  Nicholas  College  to 
that  of  St.  Mary  and  St.  Nicholas,  augmented 
its  numbers  from  12  to  70,  and  bound  it  to 
Eton  as  New  College  was  bound  to  Winchester, 
so  that  only  scholars  of  Eton  were  admissible  to 
it.  John  Langport,  who  came  from  Twyford, 
now  almost  part  of  Winchester,  had  been  at 
Winchester someeleven  years.  Robert  Dummer,19 
also  a  Hampshire  boy,  had  been  eight  years  at 
Winchester,  and  Richard  Cove  of  Bromham, 
Wiltshire,  had  been  there  seven  years.  They  were, 
therefore,  Winchester  'thicks,'  who,  in  default 
of  being  able  to  get  off  to  New  College,  Oxford, 
were  thought  good  enough  for  '  New  College, 
Cambridge,'  as  it  was  often  called.  Langport 
became  vice-provost  of  King's.20  The  two  other 
Winchester  scholars  were  John  Payn  above 
mentioned,  and  Richard  Roche  of  Taunton,  who 
must  have  been  a  boy  of  exceptional  promise. 
Admitted  to  Winchester  in  1439,  he  went  to 
Eton  on  St.  Margaret's  Day,  20  July  1443,  an<^ 
was  too  young  to  be  sworn  to  the  statutes  in 
December  1443,  being  only  fifteen  years  old 
when  admitted  a  scholar  of  King's,  26  September 
1444.  He  afterwards  became  vice-provost  of 
Eton. 

The  statutes  cannot  have  been  strictly  observed 
at  the  first  election  to  King's  in  July  1 443,  as  the 
other  two  out  of  five  elected  were  Master  Wil- 
liam Chedworth,  M.A.,  already  for  20  years 
fellow  of  Merton,  Oxford,  who  three  years 
afterwards  became  provost  of  King's,  and  then 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  the  founder  or  endower 
of  Cirencester  Grammar  School  ;  and  Thomas 
Rotherham,21  afterwards  Lord  Chancellor,  Arch- 

18  Mullinger,   Univ.  of  Camb.  i,   306.     Mr.  Mul- 
linger  says  that  William  Millington  was  ejected  because 
he  objected  to  the  exclusive  connexion  established  with 
Eton  by  the  statutes  ;  but  as  this  connexion  is  expressly 
stated  in  the  charter  in  which  he  is  named  as  first  provost, 
the  statement  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  facts. 

19  Misread  into  Dommetge  by  Kirby  in  Annals,  and 
also  in  Scholars,  57  ;  a  mistake  naturally  followed  by 
the  Eton  historian  Mr.  Wasey  Sterry. 

10  B.M.  Cole  MSS.  5814-7,  fol.  12. 
"  See  account  of  him   under   Rotherham   College 
in  A.  F.  Leach,  Early  Torks.  Schools,  xxvii. 


IS6 


SCHOOLS 


bishop  of  York,  and  founder  of  a  small  Eton  at 
Jesus  College,  Rotherham,  in  1480,  who  was 
already  more  than  19  years  old. 

As  only  those  above  1 5  n  had  to  swear  to  the 
statutes,  it  looks  as  if  even  in  December  1443 
the  school  was  not  filled  up.  The  completion 
of  the  college  was  marked  by  the  famous  Amica- 
bilis  concordia  or  covenant  of  alliance  between 
Wykeham's  two  colleges  of  the  Virgin  at 
Oxford  and  Winchester  and  the  two  royal 
colleges  of  the  Virgin  of  Cambridge  and  Eton 
for  mutual  assistance,  signed  by  their  respective 
wardens  and  provosts  i  July  1444. 

The  first  head  master  mentioned  at  Eton  is 
William  Westbury,  in  the  Bursars'  or  Audit  Roll  of 
1444-5,  which  is  the  earliest  preserved.  Now 
William  Westbury  was  an  old  pupil  of  Wayne- 
flete's.  He  was  in  all  probability  son  of  William 
Westbury,  serjeant-at-law,  who  appears  in  the 
Winchester  Bursars' Roll  for  1423-488  receiving 
half  a  mark  as  leader  of  several  counsel  in  an  action 
about  some  Andover  property  of  that  college, 
and  was  a  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  in  1426. 
He  came  from  Westbury,  Wiltshire,  where  he 
endowed  a  chantry.  The  son  is  described  as  of 
Alresford,  when  admitted  a  '  poor  and  needy ' 
scholar  of  Winchester  in  1428-9.  He  went  on 
to  New  College  in  1433.  The  New  College 
records  report  him  as  leaving  his  fellowship  ** 
'in  the  month  of  May  1442,  transferring  him- 
self to  the  King's  service.'  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  royal  service  to  which  he  was 
transferred  was  that  of  head  master,  and,  it  is 
contended,  first  head  master  of  the  royal  col- 
lege. The  Audit  Roll  of  1444-5  shows  indeed, 
by  its  beginning  with  'arrears '  or  surplus  received 
from  the  bursars  of  the  preceding  year,  that  it  was 
not  the  first,  though  the  small  amount  of  the  sur- 
plus, £3  3*.  id.,  compared  with  one  of  j£54  odd 
carried  over  to  the  next  year,  and  other  entries, 
make  it  probable  that  it  was  only  the  second 
roll  ;  and  that  nothing  like  the  full  income  had 
been  received  in  1443—4. 

The  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  avoids 
all  difficulties  as  to  the  opening  of  Eton  School 
and  the  first  head  master  by  the  assertion  that 
Wayneflete  was  '  in  the  first  charter  of  Eton,  1 1 
October  1440,  nominated  a  fellow  and  removed 
to  Eton  in  1442.  A  class-room  was  then  open, 
but  the  pupils  were  lodged  in  private  houses.' 
The  first  two  statements  are,  as  we  have  seen, 
wrong.  Wayneflete  was  not  named  in  the 
charter  of  1440,  and  he  left  Winchester  in 
1441.  The  last  two  statements  may  be  true, 
but  no  authority  for  them  now  exists,  nor  is 
any  cited. 

0  When  the  Winchester  boyi  were  iworn  to  their 
statutes  in  1400,  36  out  of  70  took  the  oath. 

"  The  protocol*  of  admission  of  fellows  show  that 
his  successor  was  admitted  '  in  loco  Willelmi  West- 
bury  transferentis  se  ad  obsequium,"  to  which  another 
hand  has  added  '  regis." 


The  statutes  given  to  the  two  royal  colleges  in 
1 443  made  them  now  like  the  two  Wykehamical 
colleges.  As  the  statutes,  in  words  copied  from 
those  of  Winchester,  say  :  '  Though  situate  in 
different  places,  they  come  from  one  stem,  and 
originally  issue  from  one  spring  ;  they  do  not 
differ  in  substance,  and  so  naturally  do  not 
produce  different  effects.'  The  statutes  of  Eton 
are  in  fact  a  mere  transcript  of  those  of  Win- 
chester, mutatis  mutandis.  Even  the  mutanda 
are  limited  to  the  narrowest  possible  changes, 
such  as  the  substitution  of  Eton  for  Winchester, 
Cambridge  for  Oxford,  and  Henry  VI  for 
William  of  Wykeham,  the  very  title  of  the 
Patron  Saint,  Our  Lady  of  Eton,  being  closely 
adapted  from  Our  Lady  of  Winchester.  The 
adaptation  of  the  statutes  is  much  closer  even 
than  that  made  by  Chicheley  for  his  own 
college  of  All  Souls,  though  that  is  close  enough, 
or  by  Wayneflete  himself  for  Magdalen  College. 

The  whole  45  statutes  of  Winchester,  with 
the  preamble,  called  in  the  Eton  copy  the 
Mem  et  Intentio  fundatoris,  and  the  solemn  '  end 
and  conclusion  of  all  the  statutes,'  appear 
verbatim  et  literatim,  for  the  most  part,  in  the 
Eton  statutes.  These  number  62,  however, 
because  the  preamble  and  conclusion  are  num- 
bered as  statutes,  and  nine  statutes  were  added 
for  the  almsmen,  not  included  at  Winchester, 
and  destined  quickly  to  disappear  from  Eton. 
Mr.  Mullinger's  remark  in  his  History  of  Cam- 
bridge University,  '  The  Latinity  ...  is  more 
correct,  and  copious  to  a  fault,  and  there  is  also 
to  be  noted  an  increased  power  of  expression,'  is 
not  easy  to  understand.  The  expressions  are 
identical,  even  to  the  anachronistic  repetition  in 
the  King's  College  statutes  of  the  Black  Death 
and  its  successors  in  1361  and  1368  as  having 
caused  a  dearth  of  properly  educated  clerics,  for 
which  Chicheley  in  the  statutes  for  All  Souls 
substituted  the  more  up-to-date  cause  of  the  wars 
between  England  and  France.  The  corporate 
title  bestowed  on  the  college  was  markedly 
different.  Instead  of  being  '  the  Warden  and 
Scholars  Clerks '  (scolares  cleric!),  it  was  the  Pro- 
vost and  College  (Prepositus  et  Collegium).  The  title 
of  provost  was  substituted  for  warden,  undoubt- 
edly by  way  of  distinction  from  Winchester. 
That  title,  and  not  rector  or  master,  was  no 
doubt  chosen  because  the  head  of  the  college  of 
St.  Elizabeth,  which  stood  next  door  to  the 
college  at  Winchester  and  is  now  part  of  it,  was 
called  provost,  as  was  also  the  head  of  King's 
Hall  (Oriel)  at  Oxford,  a  post  held  by  John 
Carpenter,  who  took  some  part  in  the  foundation, 
and  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Worcester  in 
Eton  Chapel,  and  the  head  of  Queen's  College, 
founded  next  after  Oriel.  The  corporate  body 
was  almost  the  same  as  at  Winchester,  being 
a  provost  and  70  scholars  with  10  fellow*  and  16 
choristers.  But  there  were  ten  instead  of  only 
three  hired  chaplains,  who  from  being  ctnductitii  tt 


'57 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


remotivi,  hired  and  removable,  instead  of  holding 
freehold  offices,  were  and  are  called  conducts, 
10  chapel  clerks  instead  of  three,  while  13 
poor  youths,  scholars,  and  13  almsmen  had 
no  precursor  at  Winchester.  The  increase  of 
chaplains  and  clerks  was  to  augment  the  splen- 
dour of  the  services.  Of  the  10  clerks  four 
were  to  be  honest  men,  of  good  conduct,  skilled  in 
reading,  psalming  and  singing,  skilled  also  in  part- 
singing('etiam  cantu  organico24  peritiam  habentes') 
with  voices  of  equal  power  ('  in  vocibus  similiter 
bene  dispositi '),  one  of  whom  at  least  was  to  know 
how  to  improvise  on  the  organ  (jubilare  in 
organis),  and  he  alone  of  all  the  clerks  of  the 
college,  if  another  could  not  be  had,  was  allowed 
to  be  a  married  man.  The  organist  in  Italy 
is  to  this  day  often  a  layman,  though  a  cleric 
is  preferred.  There  was  also  to  be  a  parish 
clerk  who  was  able  to  teach  the  grammar 
scholars,  and  a  vestry  clerk,  each  of  whom  were 
to  receive  five  marks  extra.  The  tale  of  ten 
was  made  up  of  four  gentlemen  clerks  (clerici 
generoii)  who  were  to  sit  at  the  first  dinner  at  a 
gentlemen's  table  ('  in  primis  refectionibus  ad 
aliquam  mensam  generosorum  ')  with  the  chap- 
lains, and  were  to  be  taught  part-singing,  their 
instructor  having  £6  and  three  others  to  have 
six  marks.  There  were  also  added  13  poor 
youths,  between  15  and  20  years  old  at  the 
time  of  their  admission,  who  were  to  be  taken 
from  the  outside  scholars  (i.e.  oppidans)  of  the 
college,  who  were  to  act  as  chamber-servants  to 
the  provost,  fellows,  and  head  master,  and  to  ring 
the  bells,  but  were  also  by  the  instruction  of 
their  masters  and  attendance  in  the  grammar 
school  to  render  themselves  fit  in  learning  to 
take  holy  orders,  '  for  which  reason  above  all  we 
have  thought  good  that  they  should  be  admitted 
to  our  college  royal.' 

The  school,  the  grammar  school  as  it  was 
called,  though  the  main  object  of  the  college, 
only  occupies  six  whole  statutes  and  small  por- 
tions of  eight  others,  out  of  the  total  of  sixty-two 
statutes.  The  bulk  of  these  statutes  was  occu- 
pied with  the  duties  of  the  warden,  bursars, 
fellows,  chaplains,  and  others,  the  conduct  of  the 
church  services  and  the  obits  for  the  soul  of  the 
founder. 

The  provisions  for  the  school  differed  little 
from  those  at  Winchester.  As  there  the  master 
teacher  (Magister  Informator)  was  the  second 
person  in  the  college,  sitting  at  the  upper  table 
in  hall  above  the  fellows  (except  the  vice-provost, 

14  Not  '  singing  to  the  organ.'  The  organ  was  not 
used  with  the  singing,  but  between  the  singing  parts, 
till  after  the  Reformation  ;  it  was  played  with  the  foot, 
and  the  great  object  was  '  to  make  a  joyful  noise 
before  the  Lord '  (Jubilare  in  organis).  On  the  other 
hand,  the  organum,  still  called  in  Spain  canto  de  organo, 
an  organ  being  always  in  the  plural  organa,  is  part- 
singing  unaccompanied  ;  cf.  f.C.H.  Lines,  ii.  C.  F. 
Abdy  Williams  in  Musical  Times,  Feb.  1 907. 


who  changed  every  year),  and  sitting  according 
to  his  academical  degree  in  the  church  ;  whence 
perhaps  the  custom  of  becoming  D.D.  or  D.C.L., 
the  latter  more  common  in  old  days.  His 
stipend  was  24  marks  or  £16  a  year,  as  against 
£10  for  the  fellows  and  £30  for  the  provost. 
His  commons  (stat.  1 5)  were  at  the  same  rate 
as  the  fellows',  viz.,  iQd.  a  week  or  ^4  6s.  8d. 
a  year  ;  there  being  also  allowance  to  the  whole 
table  of  is.  id.  on  twenty-five  days  for  augmenta- 
tion. His  livery  of  cloth,  which  was  to  be 
black  or  dark  grey,  was  6  yds.  at  35.  $d.  a  yd., 
or  £i.  He  might  have  one  of  the  youths 
(juvenes)  as  servant  (stat.  10),  who  was  to  be 
found  commons  and  livery  by  the  college,  and 
to  receive  such  wages  as  the  master  agreed  on 
with  him.  The  qualifications  of  the  master  were 
simply  to  be  'sufficiently  learned  in  grammar, 
having  experience  of  teaching,'  with  an  addition 
not  found  in  the  Winchester  statutes,  a  testi- 
mony to  the  growth  of  the  University,  and  the 
increased  supply  of  M.A.'s,  that  he  shall  be  'a 
master  in  arts,  if  such  can  be  conveniently 
gotten,  by  no  means  married,  or  beneficed  in  any 
college,  chapel  or  church  with  cure  of  souls 
within  7  miles  of  our  college  of  Eton.'  The 
usher  (kostiarius),  who,  as  at  Winchester,  was 
only  to  be  'sufficiently  learned  in  grammar,' 
without  previous  experience  in  teaching,  was  to 
have  the  additional  qualification  of  being  un- 
married, not  in  holy  orders,  '  a  bachelor  of  arts  if 
such  can  be  conveniently  had.'  Master  and 
usher  were  '  to  assiduously  instruct  and  teach  the 
scholars  of  the  said  college  in  grammar,  and  at- 
tentively supervise  their  life  and  conduct  ; 
punishing  the  idlers  and  offenders  without  par- 
tiality, with  this  caution  that  in  chastisement 
they  no  way  exceed  moderation ' — a  caution 
which  favourably  distinguished  Wykeham  from 
many  previous  and  later  school  legislators,  who 
were  more  anxious  to  get  the  boys  well  flogged 
than  careful  to  prevent  their  being  too  much 
flogged.  As  at  Winchester,  both  master  and 
usher  were  strictly  forbidden  '  to  presume  to 
exact,  ask  or  claim  in  any  way  anything  from 
any  of  the  scholars  or  their  parents  or  friends  for 
their  labour  about  the  said  scholars  bestowed  or 
to  be  bestowed  by  reason  or  occasion  of  such 
instruction."  In  other  words,  the  school  was  a 
free  grammar  school. 

The  contemplated  pay  ot  the  masters  was 
decidedly  on  a  higher  scale  than  that  laid  down 
at  Winchester.  The  provost  had  ^30  instead 
of  j£2o,  the  master  24  marks  (j£i6)  as  against 
£10,  and  the  usher  10  marks  as  against  5  marks 
(£6  13*.  4-d.  instead  of  £3  6s.  8d.).  A  similar 
rise  took  place  in  the  salary  fixed  for  St.  An- 
thony's School,  London,  for  which  statutes  were 
made  by  Wayneflete  and  Say  in  1447.  However, 
the  loss  of  endowment  under  Edward  IV  pre- 
vented these  figures  being  realized,  and  the  salary 
of  the  head  master  of  Eton  was  in  practice  only 


158 


SCHOOLS 


the  same  as  at  Winchester,  £10.  The  allow- 
ances for  commons  were  raised,  as  compared  with 
Winchester,  from  is.  in  ordinary  times  and  is.  6d. 
in  time  of  scarcity,  to  is.  6d.  in  ordinary  times 
and  21.  in  times  of  scarcity.  For  some  reason, 
however,  the  livery  of  cloth  for  gowns  was 
reduced  in  amount,  the  master  having  6  yards 
instead  of  8,  and  the  usher  5  yards,  the  same  as 
at  Winchester.  They  were  obliged,  however, 
only  to  keep  their  gowns  for  one  year  instead  of 
five  years,  as  at  Winchester.  A  similar  advance 
was  noticeable  in  the  arrangement  as  to  cham- 
bers. While  at  Winchester  the  master  and 
usher,  and,  if  necessary,  another  priest,  were  to 
share  a  chamber,  and  the  fellows  were  to  sleep 
three  in  a  room  ;  at  Eton  each  fellow  and  the 
head  master  were  to  have  separate  rooms,  and 
the  hostiaritu  and  chaplains  were  to  be  two  in  a 
room. 

Besides  the  master  and  usher  provision  was 
made  for  an  assistant  master,  it  being  provided 
that  the  chapel  clerk,  who  acted  as  parish  clerk, 
should  also  be  able  to  teach  the  grammarians. 
His  pay  was  5  marks  (£3  6s.  8^.),  and  his 
commons  i$d.  a  week. 

The  provisions  as  to  the  scholars  were  in 
identical  terms  with  those  at  Winchester  ;  that 
is,  they  were  to  be  70  in  number,  poor  and  needy 
(pauperes  tt  indigentes],  between  eight  and  twelve 
years  old  at  the  time  of  election,  completely 
instructed  in  reading,  plainsong,  and  grammar  ; 
with  a  proviso  that  anyone  under  seventeen 
might  be  elected  if  he  showed  promise  of  being 
sufficiently  learned  in  grammar  by  the  time  he 
was  eighteen.  They  were  to  be  born  in  Eng- 
land, with  preference  for  those  coming  from 
places  and  counties  in  which  the  college  had 
property.  But  there  were  two  additions  not 
present  in  the  Winchester  statutes,  viz.  that 
'  regard  was  to  be  had  to  the  choristers  '  of  Eton 
and  King's,  '  whom  on  account  of  their  labours 
and  services  rendered  in  the  said  royal  colleges  it 
is  right  should  according  to  their  merits  be  pre- 
ferred to  those  who  are  on  a  par  with  them  in 
the  conditions  and  qualities  above-mentioned,'  but 
*  no  villein  (nativus)  or  illegitimate '  was  to  be 
admitted. 

The  provisions  as  to  examination  for  college 
at  Winchester  had  specially  included  '  other  boys 
and  the  choristers  of  the  chapel  there'  to  be 
examined,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  till  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII  at  least,  nearly  all  the  choristers 
did  get  into  college.  In  this  respect,  therefore, 
the  definite  preference  given  for  choristers  was 
only  a  legalization  and  extension  of  existing 
practice.  Whether  the  exclusion  of  those  who 
were  unfree  was  also  in  accordance  with  practice  at 
Winchester,  and  not  a  retrograde  provision,  is  a 
moot  point.  When  Wykeham  first  started  his 
school,  about  1370,  and  when  he  definitely  en- 
dowed it  in  1382,  it  is  probable  that  no  one 
would  have  thought  the  son  of  a  slave  or  a  bonds- 


man eligible  for  a  scholarship  at  Winchester  any 
more  than  he  ordinarily  was  for  the  priesthood, 
though  it  is  to  be  observed  that  in  1 3 1 2  a  fellow 
of  Merton,  Master  Walter  of  Merton  in  Oxford, 
received  manumission  from  the  Cathedral  Priory 
of  Durham.1*  But  by  the  rejection  of  a  Bill  sent 
up  by  the  Commons  in  1392,  excluding  villeins' 
sons  from  schools,  Richard  II,  or  his  advisers, 
threw  the  school  doors  open  to  them.  As  a 
sequel  to  the  Peasants'  Revolt,  by  the  time  of 
Henry  VI  the  number  of  bondsmen  was  much 
reduced,  so  that  exclusion  of  the  unfree,  while 
at  all  events  not  a  liberal  measure,  was  not  so 
illiberal  as  it  would  have  been  in  the  141(1  cen- 
tury. One  danger  in  the  selection  of  its  scholars 
Eton  escaped  by  having  a  royal  founder  ;  the 
absolute  right  of  admission  and  the  special  privi- 
leges given  to  kin  of  the  founder,  which  in  the 
1 7th  century  nearly  ruined  Winchester,  were 
absent  from  the  Eton  statutes. 

The  electing  body  was  the  same,  mutatis 
mutandis,  as  at  Winchester;  the  provost  of 
King's,  with  two  fellows  called  posers  (i.e. 
opposers  or  apposers),  came  to  Eton  between 
the  translation  of  Thomas  Becket  (7  July)  and 
the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  (15  August),  and 
with  the  provost  and  vice-provost  and  head 
master  of  Eton  held  a  scrutiny  to  detect  anything 
amiss  in  the  conduct  of  the  college,  and  then 
examined  and  elected  the  Eton  boys  to  King's, 
and  the  choristers  and  others  for  admission  to 
Eton,  putting  their  names  on  a  roll,  those  named 
being  admitted  in  order  as  vacancies  occurred. 

The  scholars  of  Eton  were  to  dwell  in  the 
ground-floor  chambers  of  the  inner  quadrangle 
with  three  prefects  or  prepostors  in  each  cham- 
ber. It  is  a  moot  point  with  the  Eton  historians 
whether  they  ever  did  so,  or  whether  Long 
Chamber,  in  which  the  whole  70  slept  in  one 
barrack-like  room,  was  original  or  only  an  inno- 
vation, dating  from  the  time  when  the  west  side 
of  the  inner  quadrangle  and  Lupton's  Tower  was 
devoted  to  the  provost  by  Provost  Lupton  at  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  It  seems, 
however,  wholly  incredible  that  the  statutes, 
which  were  altered  from  those  of  Winchester  in 
every  minute  point  in  which  circumstances  were 
altered,  would  have  been  retained  unaltered  on  so 
important  a  point  of  school  life  as  the  chambers, 
if  so  great  an  alteration  had  been  made  as  to  sub- 
stitute one  large  chamber  for  six  smaller  ones. 
The  words  in  the  Winchester  statutes  as  to 
chambers,  directing  the  '  great  house '  below  Hall 
to  be  used  as  a  school — it  is  now  Seventh  Cham- 
ber— and  the  prohibition  of  wrestling,  dancing, 
jumping,  singing,  and  shouting  in  Hall,  because  it 
was  over  school,  are  omitted  from  the  Eton 
statutes,  because  Hall  at  Eton  was  a  separate 

*  Rtg.  Palat.  Duntlm.  (Rolls  Ser.),  97.  At  late  as 
the  day*  of  Elizabeth  a  manumission  ii  found  of  a 
fellow  of  Exeter  College  and  his  family. 


'59 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


building  outside  the  quadrangle,  while  the  pro- 
vision as  to  the  master  and  usher  having  the 
north-west  corner  for  their  chamber  was  also 
omitted  because  they  had  separate  chambers. 
The  fact  that  the  provisions  as  to  the  boys' 
chambers  remained  the  same  as  at  Winchester  is 
conclusive  proof  that  at  first  the  masters  and  the 
boys  were  not  in  the  outer  but  in  the  inner 
quadrangle,  and  lived  not  in  one  but  in  seven 
several  chambers,  the  16  choristers  occupying 
one,  and  the  70  scholars  the  other  six. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  cost  of  the  com- 
mons of  the  scholars  was  raised  from  8d.  a  week 
at  Winchester  to  is.  T>d.  a  week.  As  for  livery, 
while  at  Winchester  white,  black,  russet,  and 
grey  gowns  were  expressly  prohibited,  because 
of  the  black,  white,  russet,  and  grey  monks, 
canons,  and  friars  who  swarmed  there,  at  Eton 
the  gowns  were  ordered  to  be  black  or  dark 
grey,  there  being  no  regulars  near  for  whom  the 
scholars  could  be  mistaken.  At  first  the  cloth 
for  the  gowns  was  bought  at  Winchester. 
Tunics  worn  under  the  gown  are  mentioned. 

There  is  no  direct  evidence  what  the  dress 
was  like.  A  portrait  in  brass  of  John  Stonor,  of 
29  August  151 5,26  at  Wraysbury  on  the 
Thames,  is  now  commonly  cited  as  that  of  a 
scholar  of  Eton  and  as  showing  what  the  dress 
was  then.  But  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  brass 
in  question  does  not  show  the  dress  of  an  Eton 
scholar,  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  subject 
was  not  an  Etonian  at  all.  The  Rev.  Herbert 
Haines,  second  master  of  Gloucester  Cathedral 
Grammar  School,  in  his  Monumental  Brasses, 
published  in  1 86 1,27  is  responsible  for  saying, 
without  giving  any  reason,  '  It  probably  exhibits 
the  dress  of  an  Eton  scholar.'  Subsequent 
writers  on  brasses,  including  the  latest,28  have 
converted  the  '  probably  '  into  a  positive  assertion 
that  it  is  that  of  an  Eton  scholar.  There  is, 
however,  no  evidence  to  show  that  John  or  any 
other  Stonor  ever  was  an  Eton  scholar.  His 
name  is  not  in  any  Eton  list  yet  known,  pub- 
lished or  otherwise.  Even  if  he  was,  there  is  no 
reason  except  the  somewhat  small  dimensions  of 
the  brass  for  supposing  that  the  brass  is  that  of  a 
boy.  It  is  now  well  established  from  the  cele- 
brated brasses  at  Salisbury  and  Winchester,  once 
supposed  to  be  those  of  boy-bishops,  that  the 
small  size  of  a  figure  is  no  indication  of  the 
small  size  of  the  subject.  Stonor's  figure  is 
certainly  not  that  of  a  person  in  statu  pupillari. 
It  is  clad  in  a  long  gown  with  a  white  fur  border 
down  the  middle  and  at  the  bottom.  By 
sumptuary  laws,  the  latest  of  which,  at  Stonor's 

*  The  inscription  is  :  '  Here  lyeth  John  Stonor,  the 
sone  of  Walter  Stoner,  squyer,  that  departed  this 
world  ye  xxix  day  of  August  in  yere  of  our  lord 
mdcxv.' 

"  p.  Ixxxvi. 

18  Herbert  Drewitt,  A  Manual  of  Costume  as  Illus- 
trated by  Monumental  Brasses  (1906),  14.2. 


date,  was  I  Henry  VIII,  cap.  14  (1509-10),  no 
schoolboy,  certainly  no  pauper  et  indigent  scolaris, 
would  have  been  allowed  to  wear  fur,  which  was 
restricted  to  the  upper  ranks  of  laymen  and  the 
upper  orders  of  clerics  and  academics.  More- 
over the  figure  portrayed  has  on  the  head  a  hood 
close-fitting  to  the  face,  with  liripips  or  streamers 
behind,  and  above  it  a  round  cap,  also  of  fur  or 
bound  with  fur,  which  are  almost  certainly  the 
hood  and  cap  (pileuni)  of  a  doctor  of  laws. 
Schoolboys  went  bareheaded,  as  was  still  the 
custom  at  Winchester  30  years  ago  in  the 
college  precinct,  and  at  Christ's  Hospital  still. 
John  Stonor's  brass  gives  therefore  no  indication 
of  the  dress  of  a  scholar  of  Eton. 

In  the  absence  of  any  other  evidence  we  may 
therefore  assume  that  the  scholars  of  Eton  were 
dressed  like  the  scholars  of  Winchester,  in  a  long 
gown  with  a  low  collar  29  buttoned  at  the  neck, 
and  closed  in  front  and  hanging  down  to  the 
heels,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  brass  in  Head- 
bourne  Worthy,  Hants,  of  'John  Kent  once 
scholar  of  the  New  college  of  Wynchestre  and 
son  of  Simon  Kent  of  Reading,'  who  died  in 
1434.  The  present  gown  at  Winchester  only 
differs  from  this  in  that  the  sleeve  now  does  not 
go  down  to  the  wrist,  but  is  cut  short  up  at  the 
elbow  and  puffed,  and  the  gown  is  now  worn 
open,  except  by  a  junior  when  speaking  to  a 
master,  but  when  closed  it  is  still  held  by  only 
one  button  at  the  neck.  At  Eton  the  sign  of 
superannuation  used  to  be  the  cutting  of  the  top 
button,  letting  the  two  sides  of  the  gown  fall 
open  apart  from  each  other.  But  the  modern 
Eton  gown  is,  as  at  Oxford,  a  garment  not  worn 
always,  but  only  in  school  and  chapel,  and  then 
donned  over  ordinary  modern  dress.  It  is 
strange  to  find  that,  in  spite  of  the  statutes,  the 
colour  of  the  gowns  was  in  1446-7  30  blue  ;  in 
1447-8  'mustre  devillers,'  which  is  striped  blue 
and  yellow  ;  in  1458  partly  plain,  partly  rayed 
(stragulatam).  In  1567-8  russet  was  bought  in 
London  '  for  schollars  lyvyrye.' 

Besides  scholars  there  were  from  the  first  at 
Eton,  as  at  Winchester,  commoners  in  college 
(commensales  in  collegia).  By  an  almost  casual 
entry  at  the  end  of  a  statute  forbidding  strangers 
to  be  lodged  in  college,  except  (and  that  for  two 
days  at  a  time  only)  parents  or  friends  of 
scholars,  Wykeham  said  :  '  We  allow  however 
that  sons  of  noble  and  powerful  persons,  special 
friends  of  the  college,  may,  to  the  number  of  ten, 
be  instructed  in  grammar  and  educated  in  the 

19  In  A.  F.  Leach,  Hist,  of  Winchester  Coll.  this  was 
misdescribed,  from  the  drawing  given  of  it  in  Ann.  of 
Winchester  Coll.  as  a  high  collar,  the  line  of  the  chin 
being  mistaken  for  part  of  the  collar.  The  illustra- 
tion in  the  article  by  him  on  '  Schools '  in  V.C.H. 
Hants,  ii,  274,  shows  clearly  the  collar  the  same 
as  in  the  present  Winchester  gowns. 

30  Eton  Aud.  R.  25  &  26  Hen.  VI.  This  is  the 
second  extant  roll. 


160 


SCHOOLS 


college  without  burden  to  the  college  ;  so  that  it 
be  without  prejudice,  damage,  or  scandal  to  the 
members  of  the  college.'  The  same  words  were 
used  at  Eton,  but  the  number  was  doubled, 
twenty  extranet  commensales  or  tabling  strangers 
being  admissible.  '  Noble '  of  course  had  not  the 
limited  sense  now  given  to  it,  but  included  all 
of  gentle  birth,  squires  and  country  gentlemen — 
in  fact  anyone  who  bore  arms. 

Lastly,  over  and  above  all  these  the  school  was 
open  as  a  Free  Grammar  School  to  all  coming  to 
it  from  all  parts  of  England.  In  this  respect 
Eton  was  unlike  Winchester  and  like  the 
ordinary  grammar  school.  At  Winchester  no 
provision  was  made  for  outsiders,  probably  be- 
cause there  was  already  an  existing  high  school 
or  city  grammar  school  in  the  town,  of  imme- 
morial antiquity,  to  which  outsiders  could  go, 
and  for  trenching  on  the  monopoly  of  which,  by 
admitting  scholars  and  gentlemen-commoners  at 
all,  Wykeham  thought  it  necessary  to  get  a  papal 
bull.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  outsiders  were 
admitted.  For  a  rescript  by  Bishop  Beaufort, 
Wykeham's  successor  in  the  see  of  Winchester, 
IO  April  1412,  states  the  'the  master  is  con- 
tinually instructing  and  educating  in  grammar 
80  or  100  outsiders  in  our  college,  contrary  to 
the  pious  intention  of  the  founder,'  and  '  because 
one  master  is  not  enough  to  teach  so  large  a 
number,'  he  forbade  the  warden  '  to  admit  any 
outsider  beyond  the  number  limited  by  the 
statutes  to  be  taught  grammar  in  the  college,  or 
allow  them  to  be  admitted  without  your  (the 
warden's)  special  licence.'  This  licence  must, 
however,  have  been  freely  given.  Extant 
accounts  of  the  provost  of  St.  Elizabeth's  College, 
which  stood  where  the  warden's  garden  now  is, 
show  the  admission  in  1400  of  commoners,  and 
the  next  extant  accounts  in  1455  and  1460-4 
show  commoners  of  whom  some  are  specifically 
stated  to  be  attending  school  in  '  New  College,' 
as  Winchester,  like  its  sister  college  at  Oxford, 
was  then  called.  Wayneflete  no  doubt  had 
himself  taught  these  commoners  at  Winchester. 
Convinced,  therefore,  of  the  advantage  of  them, 
he  ensured  their  admission  at  Eton,  not  at  the 
mercy  of  the  provost,  but  by  adding  to  the 
master's  salary  and  making  it  his  duty  to  admit 
them  free  and  giving  the  boys  an  absolute  right 
to  come.  There  was,  however,  at  Eton  no  St. 
Elizabeth's  College  and  no  Sisters'  Hospital,  one 
on  each  side  of  the  college,  to  board  them  under 
care,  and  no  city  to  receive  them  into  lodgings, 
but  only  a  village  with  a  few  houses.  Yet  so 
important  was  the  admission  of  outsiders  deemed, 
that,  by  a  patent  of  20  June  1444,  Henry  VI 
forbade  the  providers  of  victuals  for  the  king's 
household  to  take  any  property  of  the  college  or 
of  the  parishioners  of  Eton  for  the  king's  use,  or 
to  billet  anyone  in  Eton  against  the  will  of  the 
provost,  and  declared  '  that  all  the  inns  (hosf>itia)y 
houses,  and  mansions  in  the  town  and  parish  of 


Eton  shall  be  specially  reserved  for  the  boys  and 
scholars  coming  together  there  for  their  educa- 
tion (diidplina)  and  others  coming  there  for  any 
reason  connected  with  the  college,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  provost  or  his  deputy,  so  that  no  one 
else  shall  lodge  there  either  himself  or  anyone 
else  without  their  leave.'  So  that  the  whole 
town  of  Eton  was  placed  under  the  rule  of  the 
provost  and  reserved  for  the  school.  Moreover, 
on  12  March  1444-5  a"  lands  and  tenements 
in  Eton  were  granted  to  the  college,  and  to 
ensure  a  supply  of  provisions  two  fairs,  one  for 
three  days  after  the  Carnival,  the  other  for  four 
days  after  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin 
(15  August),  were  established.  In  the  same 
spirit  it  is  said 31  that  by  patent  24  Henry  VI 
the  grammar  school  of  the  college  was  given  a 
monopoly,  and  no  other  school  was  allowed  in 
Eton  or  within  10  miles  of  it. 

The  absence  of  any  indication  whatever  of 
the  time-table  or  curriculum  of  the  school  in  all 
the  voluminous  statutes  might  be  thought  strange 
were  it  not  that  a  similar  absence  of  detail  is 
characteristic  of  school  foundations  in  every  age. 
Indeed,  the  latest  formula  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation for  school  curriculum  is  merely  to  say 
that  '  instruction  shall  be  given  in  such  subjects 
proper  to  be  taught  in  a  Public  Secondary  School 
as  the  governors  in  consultation  with  the  head 
master  may  from  time  to  time  think  fit.'  The 
Eton  curriculum  was  summed  up  in  the  one 
word  '  grammar,'  taught  in  a  way  to  fit  the 
scholars  for  the  university.  There  is  no  specific 
evidence  to  show  what  grammar  included  or 
how  it  was  taught  at  Eton  for  nearly  a  century 
after  the  foundation.  But  we  know**  that 
grammar  meant  Latin  grammar  and  the  Latin 
classics,  with  composition  both  in  Latin  prose 
and  Latin  verse,  and  conversation  carried  on  in 
the  Latin  tongue,  both  in  and  out  of  school. 
Besides  this,  the  Eton  statutes  go  in  one  respect 
into  rather  more  detail  than  those  of  Winchester, 
in  that  they  direct  (stat.  14)  that  '  the  master, 
or,  in  his  absence,  the  usher,  is  to  make  a  dispu- 
tation in  grammar,  to  be  publicly  held  in  the 
nave  of  the  collegiate  church  or  the  cloister  of 
the  same,  or  other  fit  place,  on  the  day  of  the 
Translation  of  St.  Thomas  the  Martyr,  by  some 
advanced  scholar  of  the  royal  college  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  boys  learning  grammar  and  of 
all  others  coming  there — he  to  be  answered  in 
the  accustomed  manner  by  another  scholar.' 
This  institution  of  a  Speech  Day  was  no  doubt 
not  a  new  thing  in  schools.  The  reference  to 
its  being  held  in  the  cloister  shows  that  it  was 
modelled  at  all  events  on  Winchester  practice, 

"  B.M.  Sloane  MSS.  4840,  fol.  313.  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  I  have  failed  to  find  the  patent  in  question. 

"  e.g.  by  the  regulations  for  Grammar  Schools  and 
Grammar  Schoolmasters  at  Oxford  in  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Statutes. 


ibi 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


where  in  the  summer  the  upper  classes  at  least 
were  held  in  cloisters,  and  the  summer  term  was 
and  is  still  called  Cloister  Time  ;  while  the  dis- 
putation in  grammar  prevailed  at  Westminster 
election  till  half  way  through  the  igth  century. 
A  curious  '  Memorandum  '  on  the  Eton  Election 
Roll  for  I468,33  that  '  Kercy,'  whose  name  ap- 
pears in  the  body  of  the  roll  as  Kersey,  but  with- 
out the  usual  details  of  age  and  place  of  birth, 
'  is  not  found  in  the  examination  papers,'  appears 
to  show  that  the  examination  was  really  com- 
petitive, and  that  written  papers  were  set  in  it. 
The  use  of  the  word  '  examinations,'  not  '  elec- 
tion,' and  the  plural  number  seems  to  negative 
the  idea  that  the  missing  papers  were  merely  this 
boy's  application  for  election. 

But  as  to  what  subjects  the  examination  was 
in,  besides  Donatus  or  the  accidence  and  plain 
chant,  we  are  left  to  guess.  But  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  a  very  considerable  amount  of 
real  classics  was  done.  The  now  well-known 
letter  of  William  Paston,  written  23  February 
1479,  when  an  oppidan  about  nineteen  years 
old,  living  in  a  dame's  house — he  calls  her  '  my 
hostess ' — under  the  tuition  of  a  fellow,  Thomas 
Stevenson,  concludes  thus :  '  And  as  for  my 
coming  from  Eton,  I  lack  nothing  but  versifying, 
which  I  trust  to  have  with  a  little  continuance. 

Quare  u  quo  modo  non  valet  hora  valet  mora  ? 
Unde  di[citur] 

Arbore  jam  videas  exemplum.     Non  die  possunt 
Omnia  suppleri,  sed  tamen  ilia  mora. 

And  these  two  verses  aforesaid  be  of  mine  own 
making.' 

The  false  quantity  in  making  the  e  in  '  die ' 
short  is  shocking  to  the  modern  classical  scholar; 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  Paston  was  only 
an  oppidan,  and  was  already  spending  his  time 
attending  weddings  and  falling  in  love  with  a 
young  lady  from  London,  to  whom  the  bulk  of 
the  letter  is  devoted.  The  verses,  however,  on 
the  monument  of  William  Westbury,  the  first 
head  master,  who  died  in  1472,  would  perhaps 
be  equally  startling  to  the  modern  master  : — 

Nate  Dei  patrls,"  anime  miserere  Wilhelmi 

Westburi  cujns  ossa  sub  hoc  lapide 
Condita  sunt  ;  natus  erat  et  nutritus  in  Alford, 

Wintonie  juvenis  grammaticam  didicit. 
Oxonie  studuit,  et  in  artibus  ille  magister 

Etone  pueros  grammaticam  docuit. 
Inde  theologus  est  hie  functus  Prepositura, 

Tolle  decem  menses,  lustra  per  integra  sex. 

83  '  Memorandum,  quod  non  inventus  in  papiris 
examinacionum  Kercy.' 

31  '  Why,  when  the  hour  does  not  avail,  does  delay 
avail  f '  This  is  the  theme  set  by  the  master.  The 
words  '  on  which  it  is  said '  usher  in  the  boy's 
answer  :  '  You  may  see  an  example  in  a  tree.  Every- 
thing cannot  be  supplied  in  a  day,  but  it  is  by 
waiting.' 

"  '  Son  of  God  the  Father,  have  mercy  on  the  soul 
of  William  Westbury,  whose  bones  are  buried  under 
this  stone.  He  was  born  and  bred  at  Alresford,  at 


The  lengthening  of  the  syllables  marked  was 
not  done  in  the  golden  age  of  Latin  elegiacs, 
though  it  is  probable  that  in  the  third  line  erat 
had  been  misread  for  fait.  But  hexameters  and 
pentameters  were  a  mere  exotic  in  Latin.  The 
authors  on  whom  Westbury  was  brought  up  were 
probably  largely  the  authors  of  the  bronze  age,  or 
of  even  baser  metal,  the  Christian  poets  of  the 
4th  and  5th  centuries,  Sedulius  and  Juvencus  and 
Prudentius,  whom  Colet  even  half  a  century  I 
later  regarded  as  models  of  pure  Latinity  ;  and 
they  exercised  equal  or  even  greater  licence, 
even  making  the  o  of  the  ablative  short,  as  if  it 
was  the  modern  Italian  o.  The  practice  in  this 
respect  of  some  ten  centuries  was  probably 
nearer  the  real  pronunciation  than  the  narrower 
rules  which  prevailed  in  the  single  century  of 
the  golden  age  of  Roman  literature. 

We  may  now  revert  to  a  regular  chrono- 
logical order  of  history.  The  evidence  already 
given  points  to  the  school  beginning,  not  in 
October  1442,  when  Wayneflete  left  Winches- 
ter, but  at  Midsummer  1443,  when  he  was 
already  provost.  Even  then  it  began  with  a 
very  scanty  number,  which  was  increased  at  the 
election  of  1444  ;  but  the  full  complement  was  not 
made  up,  as  the  Audit  Roll  of  1444—5  shows, 
till  the  election  of  1445.  That  roll  records  the 
purchase  of  370^  yds.  of  linen  'for  sheets, 
shirts  and  other  necessaries  for  scholars  and 
choristers,'  out  of  which  thirty  pairs  of  sheets  were 
made  ;  while  fifteen  canvases  were  bought  and  a 
cart-load  of  straw  to  fill  them,  and  82  yds.  of 
woollen  cloth  for  blankets  (lodicibus),  showing  that 
the  scholars  did  not,  as  has  been  alleged,  lie  in 
straw,  but  on  straw  mattresses  with  all  the  para- 
phernalia of  modern  beds.  In  that  year,  too, 
sixty-three  gowns  and  hoods  were  made  by  two 
tailors,  the  cloth  for  which  was  bought  at 
Winchester  from  Thomas  Filde,  draper,  as  it 
was  every  year  till  1476,  after  which  it  was 
bought  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Fair,  London.  The 
record  of  the  weekly  commons  shows  a  sudden  in- 
crease from  46  in  the  third  week,  and  58  'scholars, 
choristers,  and  servants,'  the  latter  meaning  the 
12  pueri  servientes,  in  the  twelfth  week,  to  84  in 
the  thirteenth  week.  The  cause  of  this  accession 
of  numbers  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  regular  elec- 
tion of  scholars  on  26  September  I444.36  Then 
seven  scholars  from  Eton  were  elected  to  King's, 
headed  by  the  ex- Winchester  scholar,  Richard 
Roche  of  Tawnton  (Taunton  in  Somerset),  who 
was  only  fifteen,  while  three  others  were  nineteen, 
one  eighteen,  and  Richard  Fauley,  the  ex-Win- 
Winchester  as  a  youth  he  learnt  grammar,  he  studied 
at  Oxford,  and  as  a  master  in  arts  taught  boys  gram- 
mar at  Eton.  Then,  becoming  a  theologian  (i.e. 
D.D.),  he  discharged  the  office  of  provost  here  for  6 
whole  lustra  (30  years),  less  ten  months.' 

56  This  and  the  following  rolls,  the  existence  of 
which  was  previously  unknown,  were  discovered  by  the 
writer  in  searching  for  the  Audit  Rolls. 


162 


SCHOOLS 


Chester  commoner,  sixteen  years  old.  Two 
came  from  Somerset,  two  from  Dorset,  one  each 
from  Hanpshire,  Berkshire,  and  Warwickshire. 
No  fewer  than  25  were  elected  to  Eton.  They 
were  headed  by  Richard  Denman  from  the 
county  of  Durham,  who  had  already  attained 
the  extreme  age  allowed,  of  seventeen  years, 
while  a  Yorkshire  boy,  John  Freeman,  was  six- 
teen. On  the  other  hand,  one  from  Eton  itself 
and  one  from  London  were  only  ten  years  old. 
The  rest  ranged  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of 
age.  It  would  almost  appear  that  the  widest 
possible  range  was  purposely  taken,  no  county 
contributing  more  than  two  boys,  except  York- 
shire, which  sent  five;  but  of  these  one  came  from 
York  and  one  from  each  of  the  three  Ridings 
other  than  the  West  Riding,  which  sent  two. 
Buckinghamshire,  Oxfordshire,  and  Hertford- 
shire each  contributed  two  scholars  ;  while  Lon- 
don, Cambridgeshire,  Devonshire,  Gloucester- 
shire, Leicestershire,  Lincolnshire,  Middlesex, 
Northamptonshire,  Surrey,  Somerset,  and  West- 
morland each  contributed  a  single  scion.  The 
names  of  Yarborough  (Yarbrow)  from  Lincoln- 
shire, Catesby  from  Northamptonshire,  Bower 
from  Yorkshire,  Salkeld  from  Westmorland,  and 
Dorman  from  Leicestershire,  all  county  families — 
and  no  doubt  to  those  having  local  knowledge 
many  of  the  other  names — show  that  the  words 
pauperes  indigentes  by  no  means  meant,  as  has 
sometimes  been  asserted,  the  '  poor  and  needy ' 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  nowadays,  in  the 
Poor  Law  sense,  but  included  the  younger  sons 
of  the  upper  middle  classes,  '  those  who  without 
help  could  not  keep  their  sons  at  the  universi- 
ties.' The  next  election  roll  forthcoming  is 
that  for  1446,  and  contains  35  names  of  those 
'  nominated  to  the  college  royal.'  If  they  were 
all  admitted,  this  year,  when  the  school  was  built 
and  the  college  practically  finished,  marks  the 
final  filling  of  the  college  to  its  full  number. 
The  age  in  this  roll  is  much  lower  than  that  of 
previous  elections,  the  eighteenth  on  the  list 
being  only  eight,  while  the  fourth  and  fifth  were 
ten  years  old,  and  none  of  the  first  18  were  over 
fourteen  years  of  age.  No  fewer  than  6  of  them 
were  Londoners  ;  the  rest  came  from  Bedford- 
shire, Berkshire,  Gloucestershire,  Hampshire, 
Kent,  Lincolnshire,  Nottinghamshire,  Oxford- 
shire. In  the  next  extant  roll,  that  for  1453,  a 
distinction  is  drawn  between  those  '  elected  and 
admitted  '  (aisumptorum)  on  3  August,  and  those 
'  elected,  nominated,  and  to  be  admitted '  (assum- 
endorum).  The  former  list  consisted  of  15 
names  ;  the  latter  contained  no  fewer  than  65, 
of  whom  not  a  tenth  could  have  been  actually 
admitted.  The  name  of  Nicholas  Wallop  of 
Farleigh,  aged  eleven,  of  the  ancient  Hampshire 
family  now  represented  by  the  Earl  of  Portsmouth, 
shows  what  the  status  of  the  poor  and  indigent 
scholars  was.  Counties  so  distant  as  Cornwall 
and  Derbyshire  sent  representatives. 


In  1444-5  tne  college  had  got  into  working 
order,  with  William  Westbury  as  head  master 
and  Thomas  Chaunterie  as  first  usher,  while  two 
clerks,  Henry  Sulbyand  Henry  Warde,  instructed 
in  singing.  The  endowment  was  not  yet  com- 
pleted, the  total  income  of  £946  8;.  $\d.  being 
made  up  by  three  gifts  'of  the  most  gracious 
Founder'  of  jTi 20,  of  £i  8  provided  by  the  pro- 
vost, and  another  £18  the  proceeds  of  the  con- 
tributions at  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  ;  but 
as  the  staff  of  confessors,  who  with  their  servants 
occupied  thirty  beds,  and  the  entertainment  of 
strangers  cost  £29  19;.  3/f.,  the  bulls  for  the  feast 
were  a  losing  speculation.  This  year  saw  the 
erection  of  the  school, '  a  house  and  two  chambers 
at  the  end  of  the  same  (the  old  church),  inside 
the  precinct  of  the  college,  to  teach  the  gram- 
mar scholars  in,"7  at  a  cost  of  £71  16*.  9^.,  or 
some  £2,150  of  our  money.  With  its  two  class- 
rooms it  was  70  ft.  long  by  24  ft.  broad,  or  about 
5  ft.  narrower,  but  25  ft.  longer,  than  the  magna 
domus  which  formed  the  school  at  Winchester. 
The  total  area  was  1,680  square  ft.  as  against 
1,350.  At  12  square  ft.  each  this  gives  room 
for  140  boys,  which  would  leave  room  for  only 
about  2O  oppidans.  But  with  the  closer  packing 
of  those  days,  allowing  I  o  square  ft.  each,  some 
50  oppidans,  making  190  in  all,  might  have  been 
admitted.  However  tight  the  packing,  it  could 
not  in  any  case  have  been  contemplated  that 
oppidans  should  be  in  the  majority,  as  against 
the  119  members  of  the  college.  The  college 
precinct  was  completed  by  '  making  gates  in  the 
paling  round  '  it,  i.e.  the  outer  gate,  at  a  cost 
of  £8  1 8*.  -id.  Next  year  the  almshouse  was 
built  in  the  outer  quadrangle,  probably  where 
Uoper  School  now  is ;  it  was  finished  in  the 
following  year.  The  Old  Hall  mentioned  in 
the  accounts  was  also  in  1445—6  in  course  of 
being  superseded  by  the  present  hall,  the  chief 
mason  going  to  consult  the  Marquis  of  Suffolk 
on  its  'making'  in  November  1445—6.  It 
was  in  use  before  Midsummer  1449,  though 
it  was  not  till  1450  that 'storied  glass'  (vitri 
bistorialis)  was  placed  in  its  windows.  In  its 
dimensions,  82  ft.  by  32  ft.,  it  was  distinctly 
intended  to  surpass  that  of  Winchester,  which 
was  only  some  63  ft.  by  30  ft.,  though,  oddly 
enough,  it  was  smaller  than  that  of  New  College, 
87  ft.  by  35  ft. 

In  1446-7  the  total  number  of  'scholars 
choristers  and  servitors '  was  raised  from  86  to 
1 06,  the  total  possible  being  109,  viz.  70 
scholars,  1 6  choristers,  and  13  servitors.  The 
usher  had  changed,  William  Child  or  Chylde,  a 

17  Willis  and  Clark,  op.  cit.  i,  403.  '  In  divcrsis  custi- 
bus  pro  factura  et  nova  construccionc  cuiusdam  domus 
et  duarum  camerarum  ad  finem  eiusdem  infra  pro- 
cinctura  dicti  collcgii  pro  scolaribus  gramatice  intus 
informandis.'  This  Mr.  Clark  translates  '  to  teach 
the  scholars  grammar  in,'  but  the  proper  translation  is 
as  given  in  the  text. 


163 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


Winchester  scholar  in  1437  an^  fellow  of  New 
College,  having  succeeded  Chaunterie  at  or 
before  Michaelmas  1446.  The  provost's  pay 
was  now  increased  to  ^75  a  year  by  the  addition 
of  £25  a  year  instead  of  the  rectory  of  Eton. 
The  total  income  was  ,£1,536,  but  as  the 
roll  is  imperfect  we  do  not  know  how  much 
came  from  endowment  or  whether  any  of  it 
came  from  gifts  by  the  king.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  on  Maundy  Thursday  the  '  Founder's 
alms  '  cost  no  less  than  £12  5*.  8d.,  some  ^370 
in  our  money  ;  among  the  items  being  7  casks  of 
red  herrings  and  400  white  herrings,  a  dozen 
(?  casks)  of  ale,  while  a  penny  each  was  given  to 
no  less  than  1,000  poor,  and  13,  probably  the 
almsmen,  had  4^.  apiece.  No  less  than  5,600 
wafers  (panibus)  were  consumed  in  the  church 
during  the  year,  a  number  which  in  1447—8  in- 
creased to  8,450.  8o£  ells  of  Flanders  and  43 
ells  of  Brabant,  with  38  ells  of  unnamed  linen, 
were  bought  for  table-cloths,  and  28  ells  of 
diaper  for  napkins  for  the  hall,  so  that  the  15th- 
century  frequenters  of  halls  lived  in  no  less 
gentlemanly  a  way  than  their  successors.  An 
interesting  item  is  '  9  green  boughs  of  "  cero  "  for 
the  adornment  of  the  hall  on  St.  John  Baptist's 
(Midsummer)  day ' ;  on  which  day  later  rolls 
show  that  it  was  customary  to  set  up  a  great 
candle  in  hall  painted  green  and-  red,  '  turmyn- 
tyne'  and  'vermelon'  being  bought  in  1449  for 
the  feast,  and  in  later  years  '  verdegris '  and  '  ver- 
milion,' while  '  talwode '  was  provided  for  a 
'  bonefyre '  on  the  eve  of  the  day,  as  also  on  the 
eves  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  on  29  June  and  the 
Translation  of  St.  Thomas  the  Martyr  (Becket) 
on  7  July.  For  the  boy  bishop  is.  6d.  was  ex- 
pended on  making  his  rochet  (in  factura  unius 
rochet  ordinate  pro  episcopo  Nicolaiensi).  That  re- 
paired in  1507—8  at  a  cost  of  lid.  (pro  repara- 
tlone  le  rochet  pro  episcopo  puerorum)  was  a  later  gift 
of  Canon  Denton,  an  old  Etonian.  The  boy- 
bishop  is  called  by  the  Elizabethan  master, 
Malim,  episcopus  Nibilensis,  which  Sir  Henry 
Maxwell  •  Lyte  has  translated  '  a  bishop  of 
nothingness '  instead  of  '  a  bishop  Nicholas,'  i.e. 
Santa  Claus.  The  boy-bishop  ceremonial,  which 
appears  to  be  a  Christian  adaptation  of  a  custom 
at  the  Roman  Saturnalia  of  the  slave  sitting  in 
the  place  of  the  master  and  the  master  doing  the 
duty  of  the  servant,  was  expressly  authorized  at 
Eton  by  statute,  with  a  curious  and  not  easily 
explicable  variation  from  the  similar  Winchester 
statute.  Wykeham,  after  directing  the  fellows 
and  chaplains  to  do  duty  on  certain  saints'  days, 
said, '  We  allow,  however,  that  on  the  feast  of 
Innocents  the  boys  may  say  and  celebrate  vespers, 
matins,  and  other  divine  offices  read  or  chanted 
after  the  use  and  custom  of  the  church  of 
.Sarum.'  The  age  seems  to  have  grown  more 
scrupulous  in  the  interval  ;  for  Henry  VI  said, 
•*on  which  day  (St.  Nicholas,  6  December),  and 
jnot  by  any  means  on  the  teast  of  the  Holy 


Innocents,  we  allow  divine  service,  except  the 
sacred  portions  of  the  mass,  to  be  performed  and 
said  by  a  boy-bishop  of  the  scholars,  to  be  elected 
among  them  yearly  for  the  purpose.'  It  is  easy 
to  see  the  objection  of  the  pious  king  to  the 
mummery  of  the  boy-bishop  performing  even  the 
most  sacred  portions  of  the  mass,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  why  the  performance  was  transferred 
to  St.  Nicholas's  Day.  Perhaps  it  was  not  horror 
at  the  indignity  offered  to  the  Holy  Innocents, 
but  for  the  greater  dignity  of  his  own  birthday  and 
patron  saint  that  the  change  was  made.  It  will 
be  seen  that  Eton  being  in  the  diocese  of 
Lincoln,  whose  chief  saint  was  the  boy  Hugh, 
one  of  the  numerous  alleged  blood-offerings  of 
the  Jews,  the  election  was  held  on  his  day,  1 7 
November,  and  the  celebration  on  St.  Nicholas's 
Day.  Even  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  the  day  was 
kept  with  cakes  and  wine. 

It  is  strange  that  there  is  no  mention  in  the 
accounts  of  1446-7  of  the  great  event  of  the  year, 
the  passing  of  Provost  Wayneflete  to  the  throne  of 
Winchester,  though  they  do  record  a  payment  to 
the  ex-usher,  Mr.  Thomas  Chauntrie,  and  another, 
'  for  their  labours  about  the  induction  of  the  new 
Provost.'  Cardinal  Beaufort,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, died  1 1  April  1447,  and  Henry  VI  having 
written  the  same  day  to  the  conventual  chapter 
of  Winchester  to  elect  William  Wayneflete  as 
his  successor,  he  was  duly  elected  on  13  April. 
By  6  May  he  was  with  the  king  at  Winchester. 
In  July  he  was  consecrated  in  Eton  Church, 
when  his  old  college  of  Winchester  gave  him  a 
horse  at  a  cost  of  £6  13*.  4<£,  and  the  warden, 
sub-warden,  and  others  rode  over  to  Eton  to  pre- 
sent it,  and  gave '  the  boys  of  the  College  royal  of 
Eton  135.  4</.,'  or  about  i\d.  each.  Even  if 
multiplied  by  thirty  times  to  get  an  approximate 
equivalent  of  the  value,  it  is  to  be  feared  Eton 
boys  would  not  be  grateful  for  such  a  tip  to- 
day. 

The  king  seems  now  to  have  become  excited 
about  Winchester  to  a  degree  bordering  on  the 
insanity  which  afterwards  overtook  him.  He 
seems  to  have  thought  there  was  some  mystic 
quality  in  its  very  soil  which  produced  its 
eminent  scholars  ;  as  Winchester  College  records 
a  '  tip '  of  3*.  ifd.  to  '  John  Hayne,  valet  of  the 
king's  chamber,  sent  by  the  king  to  learn  the 
character  of  the  soil  of  the  foundation  of  the 
college,' 38  while  what  must  have  been  a  huge  slice 

38  Winchester  Coll.  Bursars'  Roll,  26  &  27  Hen.  VI. 

'  Joh.  Hayne,  valecto  camere  Domini  Regis  misso  ad 
collegium  per  Dominum  Regem  pro  noticia  terre 
fundamenti  collegii,  cum  1 6d.  solutis  5  laborantibus  et 
fodientibus  pro  terra  eiusdem  fundament!  mittenda 
Domino  Regi,  4^.  8</.'  This  expenditure,  as  well  as 
that  on  2  kids,  2  pheasants,  1 2  partridges  (parteiychis), 
17  chickens,  and  3  trouts  (truttis)  given  the  king, 
when  he  came  in  person,  was  amply  repaid  by  the 
king's  gift  of  a  gold  chalice  and  '  fiols,'  £10  in  gold, 
and  4J.  \d.  for  a  pittance. 


164 


SCHOOLS 


of  earth,  as  5  labourers  were  paid  n.  ±d.  or  a 
day's  wages  each,  for  digging  it  up,  was  sent  to 
him.  He  came  in  person  to  Winchester  on 
29  January  1447-8,  when  there  was  a  great 
gathering  of  those  interested  in  Eton,  the  two 
provosts  and  divers  fellows  of  the  two  colleges 
meeting  Bekynton,  Say,  Uvedale,  the  high  sheriff, 
and  other  Wykehamists.  He  spent  a  month, 
later  in  the  same  year  when  Parliament  was  held 
there,  paying  frequent  visits  to  the  college,  and 
gave  them  a  tabernacle  of  gold  for  the  high  altar 
and  401.  for  the  scholars  and  £5  for  the  fellows 
and  other  things.  The  result  was  nearly  fatal 
to  Eton,  for  he  seems  to  have  now  conceived 
the  idea  of  rivalling  and  surpassing  Wykeham 
not  merely  as  school  and  college  founder,  but 
also  as  cathedral  builder. 

Up  to  this  time,  as  is  shown  by  the  so-called 
'will'  of  Henry  VI,  which  was  not  a  testament 
taking  effect  on  death,  but  a  declaration  of  uses 
or  trusts  of  certain  lands  and  revenues,  chiefly 
derived  from  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  which  he 
had  vested  in  feoffees  to  carry  out  the  works  of 
his  two  colleges,  he  was  merely  desirous  of  out- 
bidding William  of  Wykeham's  colleges.  'I  ... 
have  doo  my  will  and  myne  entent  to  be  written 
in  maner  that  foloweth  ...  I  will  pray  and 
charge  my  feffees  M  that  unto  the  tyme  that  the 
saide  edificacions  and  other  werkes  ...  be  fully 
perfourmed  and  accomplished  in  more  notable 
wise  than  any  of  my  said  roiaume  of  England, 
they  see  that  my  same  colleges  .  .  .  have  .  .  . 
yerely  £2,000  that  is  to  say,  Eton  £1,000  and 
.  .  .  Cambridge  £1,000  .  .  .  unto  the  ende  of 
the  terme  of  xx  yeres.'  The  will  and  intent  then 
sets  out  the  dimensions.  The  choir  (quere)  of 
the  church  of  Eton  was  to  be  103  ft.  long  and 
32  ft.  broad  and  80  ft.  high,  and  the  body  or  nave 
1 04  ft.  long  and  32  ft.  broad,  with  an  aisle  on 
each  side  1 5  ft.  broad.  '  And  so  the  said 
quere  is  lenger  then  the  quere  of  Wynchestre 
college  at  Oxenford  by  3  feet,  brodder  by  2  fete 
and  the  walls  heyer  by  20  fete,  the  pennacles 
lenger  10  fete.'  He  had  ensured  this  by  sending 
in  I44240  Bekynton  to  New  College  with  a 
'  squire  of  the  lord  king  to  measure  the  hall  and 
the  church.'  In  like  manner  the  following  year 
he  had  sent  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  to  New  Col- 
lege '  to  see  and  hear  divine  service  celebrated 
there  and  report  on  it  to  the  lord  king '  ;  and  the 
New  College  choir  was  sent  to  Oseney  Abbey, 
where  the  king  stayed,  to  do  service  before  him 
there.  He  was  determined  to  eclipse  it  in  that 
respect  also. 

To  make  a  school  chapel  larger  than  the  largest 
college  chapel  at  Oxford  then  satisfied  the  king's 

"  This  spelling  admirably  preserves  the  proper 
pronunciation  of  the  word  '  feoffees,"  not  '  fee-of-fces ' 
in  three  syllables. 

"New  Coll.  Bursars'  Roll,  11  &  2*  Hen.  VI. 
'  Pro  j  jentaculo  dato  armigero  Domini  Regis  veniendo 
ad  mensurandum  aulam  et  ecclesiam,  23*.' 


ambition.  But  his  visit  to  Winchester  later  in 
the  year  seems  to  have  developed  megalomania. 
Henry  now  got  from  Oxford,  as  master  of  the 
works,  Master  Roger  Keys,  who,  as  second  war- 
den of  All  Souls'  College,  had  overseen  the  com- 
pletion of  its  buildings,  and  kept  its  extant  and 
admirable  accounts.  On  26  January  1448-9 
Keys  was  paid41  191.  f)\d.  for  his  expenses  for 
nine  days  with  four  horses  and  three  servants, 
'  sent  by  the  lord  king  to  Salisbury  and  Win- 
chester, to  make  certain  measurements  there,  viz. 
of  the  choirs  and  naves  of  the  churches  there.' 
The  result  was  seen  in  three  successive  plans41 
for  completing  the  Eton  buildings,  culminating  in 
'  The  Kynge's  owne  avyse,  as  touchyng  certayne 
dimensions  also  well  of  the  Qwere  as  of  the  body 
of  the  churche,  with  the  yles,  of  his  college  royall 
of  oure  blessed  lady  of  Eton.'  These  plans  in- 
creased the  length  of  the  choir  from  103  ft.  to 
1 1 8  ft.,  and  finally  to  150  ft.,  and  the  breadth 
from  32  ft.  to  35  ft.  and  finally  40  ft.,  whilst  the 
nave  was  enlarged  from  1 04  ft.  to  1 1 9  ft.  and  then 
to  1 68  ft.  long,  with  similar  increases  of  breadth, 
the  aisles  being  also  increased  in  breadth  from 
15  ft.  to  2O  ft.  each.  Thus  the  whole  length  of 
the  church  was  made  318  ft.  instead  of  207  ft., 
and  the  breadth  80  ft.  '  And  so  the  said  quere 
schall  be  lenger  than  the  quere  of  the  Newe  Col- 
lege at  Oxford  bi  47  fete,  brodder  bi  8  fete  and 
the  walles  heyer  by  20  fete  And  also  heyer  than 
the  walles  of  seynt  Stephen's  Chapel  at  West- 
minstre.'  In  fact  the  design  of  a  school  chapel 
was  now  enlarged  into  that  of  a  first-class  cathe- 
dral. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  there  was  a 
definite  plan  drawn  out,  and  the  actual  architect 
was  apparently  found  in  London,  as  Roger  Keys 
spent  three  weeks  there  negotiating  for  a  new 
quarry  at  Hudleston  in  Yorkshire  and  '  to  show 
the  king  the  drawing  made  for  the  finishing  of 
the  building.'  4» 

To  carry  out  this  stupendous  design,  the  whole 
of  the  just  completed,  or  almost  completed,  chapel, 
for  the  roof  and  stalls  had  both  been  finished, 
even  to  the  polishing  of  the  latter  with  '  hownd 
fissch  (?  dog-fish)  skyn,'  had  to  be  destroyed,  and 
special  directions  were  required  to  ensure  that  the 
very  foundations  themselves  should  not  be  re- 
moved, but  only  added  to  for  the  greater  breadth 
contemplated.  From  the  year  1448  to  1450  no 
less  than  £3,336  was  spent  on  the  works,  or 
about  £100,000,  at  a  moderate  computation,  in 
our  money.  The  Marquis  of  Suffolk,  Wayne- 
flete,  and  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  contributed 
about  £700  (or  £21,000)  of  this  sum.  But  it 
was  evidently  more  than  the  royal  coffers  could 
stand.  In  1450  the  impeachment  of  Suffolk  was 

"  Keys'  accounts  in  Eton  library. 

0  Willis  and  Clark,  op.  cit.  i,  365  ;  Maxwell  Lyte, 
op.  cit. 

0  '  Ad  ostendendnm  Domino  Regi  portraturam 
factam  super  condusione  cditiui.' 


165 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


followed  by  his  death  and  Jack  Cade's  rising. 
The  effect  was  promptly  seen  in  the  works.  In 
1450—1,  under  a  new  master  of  the  works,  in- 
stead of  eighty-four  masons  only  twenty-two 
were  employed;  in  1452-3  the  number  rose  to 
forty,  but  next  year,  the  year  of  the  first  attack 
of  Henry's  insanity,  they  fell  to  twenty-two  again. 

From  1458  to  1460  no  more  than  thirty-three 
workmen  in  all  were  employed.  The  great 
church  was  only  built  as  far  as  the  choir  door, 
and  then  remained,  and  remains,  unfinished. 

On  Wayneflete's  promotion,  John  Clerk,  the 
vice-provost,  was  made  provost,  being  elected  by 
the  fellows  2  August  I447.43a  But  he  died  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  and  William  West- 
bury,  the  head  master,  succeeded  him,  being 
appointed  by  patent  8  December  1447.  He  was, 
oddly  enough,  for  some  300  years,  the  only  head 
master  to  become  provost,  though  for  the  last 
150  years  the  provostry  has  been  regarded  as  a 
retiring  pension  for  the  head  master.  Hitherto 
the  provost  had  hired  a  house  in  London  to  live 
in  during  his  frequent  visits  there  in  attendance 
on  the  king  or  for  college  business,  paying  in 
1444-5  £5  f°r  the  year  as  rent  to  John  Goffe, 
mercer,  and  afterwards  £2  a  year  to  the  Abbot  of 
Chertsey.  By  patent,  30  October  1448,  the  king 
conferred  on  the  college  for  this  purpose  the 
Leper  Hospital  of  St.  James,  now  St.  James's 
Palace.  This  hospital  had  an  endowment  of 
some  hundreds  of  acres  of  land  in  Westminster 
and  the  suburbs  ;  and  though  part  was  taken  in 
exchange  by  Henry  VIII  when  he  made  it  a 
palace,  the  bulk  was  retained  by  the  college,  and 
part  of  it,  some  140  acres,  has  just  been  sold  for 
j£8o,ooo  for  a  garden  city  at  Hampstead. 

Westbury  was  succeeded  as  head  master  by 
Richard  Hopton,  a  fellow  of  Oriel,  and  probably 
an  Eton  exhibitioner  there.  He  did  not  take 
holy  orders  till  four  years  later,  I  February 
1451,  on  the  title  of  the  college.  After  six  years 
he  retired  on  an  Eton  fellowship,  2  March  1453. 
In  May  1457  ne  supplicated  as  B.D.  for  a  D.D. 
degree  at  Oxford.  He  gave  up  his  fellowship  in 
1479,  but  was  re-elected  in  1486,  and  died  and 
was  buried  in  Eton  Chapel  19  January  1496-7. 
Two  lines  of  his  epitaph  **  seem  to  claim  that 
he  was  equally  eminent  in  music  as  in  grammar  : 
'  He  sweated  to  weave  his  true  sons  in  the  threads 
of  grammar,  and  honey  flowed  in  his  deep  notes.' 

Mr.  Thomas  Forster,  or  Foster,  scholar  of  Win- 
chester 1434,  and  of  New  College  1439,  suc- 
ceeded Hopton  as  head  master  in  May  1453.  He 
had  William  Chapman  as  usher.  In  that  year  the 
endowment  was  further  increased  by  the  grant 
of  Cowick  Priory,  and  the  last  Act  of  Parlia- 

**  B.M.  Sloane  MSS.  4840,  fol.  zz8. 

44  Grammaticis  solidos  fills  intexere  gnatos  Sudavit  ; 
gravibus  mella  fluere  notis.'  Another  possible  inter- 
pretation, however,  is  that  '  the  honey  of  learning 
flowed  by  means  of  heavy  blows,'  and  this  is  equally 
in  accordance  with  Eton  traditions. 


ment  obtained.  New  statutes  seem  to  have  been 
made  that  year,  j£i  being  paid  for  writing 
the  book  of  statutes  and  the  correction  of 
another  book  of  statutes,  the  '  velom '  for  the 
book  costing  6s.  8d.t  and  its  binding  is.  8d. 
The  queen  sent  two  special  messengers  to  the 
college  to  inform  them  of  the  birth  of  the 
prince,  destined  to  prove  fatal  to  the  peace  of 
the  kingdom  and  the  prosperity  of  the  college. 
It  was  perhaps  in  commemoration  of  this  event 
that  the  king  gave  an  image  of  St.  Nicholas  to 
the  college.  In  this  year  there  first  appear  in  the 
accounts  considerable  payments  to  the  head 
master  for  the  'exhibition  of  the  scholars'  on 
certain  feast  days,  ,£10  being  spent  for  the  pur- 
pose on  St.  John's  day,  at  Christmas,  £12  on 

19  April,  £6  in  September,  which  was   for  a 
nutting  expedition,    and  £11   on   8   November, 
which  was  apparently  connected  with  the  boy- 
bishop    celebrations.      Smaller  sums   were    paid 
for  the  choristers  on  the  same   days.     So  that  it 
was  not  all  learning  even  in  those  laborious  days. 

By  Michaelmas  1454  Clement  Smythe  of 
Southwark,  scholar  of  Winchester  1439,  scholar 
of  New  College  1444,  and  fellow  1446,  had 
succeeded  Forster  in  the  head-mastership.  He 
only  took  his  M.A.  degree  after  his  election,  on 

20  April  1453,   under  a  dispensation  that  Mr. 
Chyld,  another  fellow  of  New  College,  probably 
the  ex-usher  of  Eton,  might  read  for  him,  i.e. 
give  the  two  years'  lectures  statutably   required 
of  every  new  or  regent  master.      Smythe    was 
only  twenty-seven  years  old   at  the  time.     But 
at  Eton,   as  everywhere  until   the  end    of  the 
1 7th    century,    the    schoolmasters    were,    when 
elected,  almost  invariably  young  men  who  had 
just  taken  their  degrees,  schools  not  being  regarded 
as  abiding  places,  but  as  stepping-stones  to  higher 
preferment.      Clement    Smythe    had    for   usher 
Thomas  Avery.    Smythe  held  office  for  five  years, 
in  turn  retiring  on  an  Eton  fellowship  1 5  February 
1458,  and  acting  as  bursar  in  1459-60. 

In  1457  there  came  as  master  John  Peyntour, 
the  first  Etonian  to  become  head  master  of  his 
old  school.  Of  Daventry,  Northants,  he 
headed  the  roll  to  King's  in  1448,"  and  is  pro- 
bably the  same  person  who  became  B.A.  at 
Oxford  in  1455.  A  note  in  an  old  Eton  list 
describes  him  as  '  an  excellent  limner  ' ;  but  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  that  is  not  merely  an 
inference  from  his  name.  It  is  not  known  whether 
he  held  office  for  ten  years  until  Clement  Smythe's 
return  ;  or  whether  for  a  time,  from  1463  to 
Lady  Day  1467,  the  school  did  not  absolutely 
cease  during  the  storm  which  overtook  Eton  and 
the  kingdom. 

The  reign  of  the  royal  founder  came  to  an 
end  with  his  defeat  at  the  battle  of  Mortimer's 

46  In  Alumni  Eton.  1447.  But  the  years  given  in 
that  book  are  mostly  one  year  too  early,  through  mis- 
calculation of  the  year  of  our  Lord  from  the  year  of 
the  king. 


166 


SCHOOLS 


Cross.  In  the  first  flush  of  victory,  on  27  Feb- 
ruary 1460-1,  Edward,  Duke  of  York  and  Earl 
of  March  and  Ulster  (Ulvestre),  the  day  before 
his  entry  into  London,  as  '  vray  and  just  heire ' 
of  England,  granted  letters  of  protection  to  the 
'  Provoste  and  fellowship  of  the  collage  of  Eton,' 
desiring  everyone  not  to  hurt,  trouble  or  vex 
them — '  neither  them  in  their  lyve  loids  goods 
or  catalls,  robbe  despoyle  ner  vexe.'  On 
4  August  1461  Edward  IV  assumed  the  crown. 
By  an  Act  of  his  first  Parliament,  4  November 
1461,  all  the  grants  of  Henry  VI,  not  expressly 
saved,  were  made  void,  and  resumed  into  the 
king's  hands.  This  of  course  did  not  dissolve 
the  college,  which,  being  an  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment, created  and  confirmed  under  the 
supreme  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  Pope,  was 
not  disestablished  or  dissoluble  by  the  temporal 
act  of  king  or  Parliament.  But  the  endowment 
was  at  Edward's  mercy.  It  says  much  for 
Edward's  policy,  and  indeed  magnanimity,  that 
he  not  only  spared  the  college  itself,  though  it 
was  the  favourite  and  most  conspicuous  work  of 
the  man  who  had  killed  his  father  and  robbed 
him  of  his  inheritance,  but  re-endowed  it.  By 
patent  23  February  1462,**  he  granted  as  from 
14  March  1461  to  Provost  Westbury  and  the 
college,  to  pray  for  himself  and  Cicely  his 
mother,  and  the  soul  of  Richard  Duke  of  York, 
the  hospital  of  St.  Peter,  Windsor,  apparently  a 
new  property  not  previously  enjoyed  by  Eton  ; 
two  manors  of  Ogbourne  Priory  ;  and  the  prio- 
ries of  Stratfield  Saye,  and  of  Cogges  and  Minster 
Lovell,  Oxfordshire ;  Greeting,  Suffolk,  and 
Evcrdon,  Northants,  Docking  and  Sporle,  Nor- 
folk ;  Lyminster,  Sussex  ;  part  of  Ogbourne 
Priory  ;  Clatford  and  Hullavington,  Wiltshire  ; 
Piddlehinton,  Dorset,  and  Stogursey  (Stoke 
Courcy),  Somerset ;  with  certain  apportus  due  to 
foreign  monasteries.  The  bulk  of  the  property, 
however,  was  gran  ted  away.  Thus  on  26  February 
1462,**  Brimpsfield,  Gloucestershire,  Charlton, 
Wiltshire,  Povington,  Dorset,  Weedon  Beck, 
Northants,  and  other  Eton  properties  were  granted 
to  William  Beaufitz  for  ten  years,  he  accounting 
to  the  Exchequer  for  any  surplus  income  over 
I  ,OOO  marks  a  year.  Some  of  these,  e.g.  Povington 
and  Weedon  Beck,  were  afterwards  recovered. 
On  3  August  following,  perhaps  to  attract  the 
support  of  the  Church,  which  owed  so  much  to 
the  house  of  Lancaster,  Edward  actually  set  up 
again  the  alien  priory  of  Deerhurst,  granting  it  ** 
with  all  its  possessions,  which  Eton  had  enjoyed, 
to  a  monk  of  Westminster  named  Buckland, 
'  according  to  the  original  foundation  and  inten- 
tion of  Edward  the  Confessor.'  But  he  was 
not  to  pay  tribute  to  the  foreign  superior,  the 
abbey  of  St.  Denis,  during  war  with  France. 
Five  years  afterwards,  on  the  allegation  that 

"  Pat.  I  Edw.  IV,  pt.  iii,  m.  24. 

"  Ibid.  pt.  iv,  m.  11. 

•  Ibid.  2  Edw.  IV,  pt.  i,  m.  J. 


Buckland  had  wasted  the  property  and  only 
maintained  out  of  it  himself  and  one  secular 
chaplain,  the  king  by  Act  of  Parliament  3  July 
1467,  took  back  the  priory,  and  on  25  July** 
annexed  it  to  Tewkesbury  Abbey. 

Meanwhile,  incensed  perhaps  at  the  continued 
resistance  of  the  Lancastrians,  and  determined 
to  stamp  out  all  the  works  of  Henry,  Edward 
represented  to  Pope  Pius  II  that  the  Eton  build- 
ings were  unfinished,  and  the  college  could  not 
carry  out  its  work.  So  the  pope  on  13  Novem- 
ber 1463  issued  a  bull  suppressing  the  college  as 
a  separate  entity,  and  incorporating  it  with  St. 
George's,  Windsor.  This  '  Bull  of  Union,'  as 
it  has  been  called,  provided  that  the  site  was  not 
'  to  revert  to  profane  uses,'  and  that  '  its  accus- 
tomed charges  were  to  be  properly  supported,'** 
while  its  members  were  to  retain  their  rank  and 
emoluments.  It  would  not  appear  that  the  col- 
lege or  school  ceased.  It  was,  in  fact,  treated 
much  as  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Basingstoke, 
when  annexed  to  Merton  by  Walter  Merton ;  or 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  Oxford,  when  annexed  to 
Oriel  College  by  Edward  III ;  or  of  St.  James, 
London,  when  annexed  to  Eton  itself.  The 
effect  was  that  the  institution  was  not  destroyed, 
but  all  its  surplus  revenues,  after  meeting  the 
fixed  charges,  went  to  the  absorbing  college  in- 
stead of  to  its  own  augmentation.  The  union 
so  far  took  effect,  as  appears  from  entries  in  the 
audit  rolls  relating  to  the  subsequent  retransfer 
to  Eton,  that  the  bulk  of  the  bells,  plate,  jewels, 
and  ornaments  of  the  chapel,  even  the  very 
horses  of  the  stable,  were  taken  to  Windsor. 
The  Eton  Audit  Rolls  ceased  from  1461  to 
1467.  King's  College,  which  as  regards  its 
building  was  in  a  much  less  advanced  state  than 
Eton,  seems  to  have  been  suspended.  The  list 
of  admissions  of  scholars  at  King's  stops  in  1459, 
and  was  not  resumed  till  1466,  when  only  three 
scholars  were  elected.  The  school  may  have 
gone  on  in  a  truncated  form  ;  but  whether  there 
were  any  scholars  in  college,  after  those  existing 
in  1463  had  left,  is  doubtful.  Clement  Smythe 
seems  to  have  found  his  position  as  fellow  so 
precarious,  that  he  returned  to  the  teaching 
profession,  becoming  head  master  of  Winchester 
at  Michaelmas  1464,  where  he  remained  till 
Lady  Day  1467,  when  he  again  became  head 
master  at  Eton. 

Provost  Westbury  wisely  bowed  to  the  storm 
at  the  time.  But  two  years  later,  13  July  1465," 

*  Pat.  7  Edw.  IV,  pt.  iii,  m.  5. 
**  '  Congrue  tupportentur  oncra  consueta.' 
11  Maxwell  Lyte  gives  the  date  as  13  July  1463, 
and  says  that  in  hit  protest  Westbury  ignored  the  Bull 
of  Union.     If  1463  were  the  correct  date,  Westbury 
could  hardly  have  done  otherwise,  as  the  bull  was  not 
issued  till  four  months  later.      But  in  point  of  fact 
he  did  refer  to  what  had  been  done  two  yean  before, 
in  the  words  in  which  he  protested  against  union  by 
'  papal  or  any  other  authority.' 


I67 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


'  fearing  grave  prejudice  to  himself  and  the 
college,'  he  protested  before  a  public  notary  in 
St.  Martins  le  Grand,  London,  in  an  appeal 
to  the  papal  see  :  'I  never  will  consent  to  the 
transfer  of  any  persons  of  Eton  to  St.  George's, 
Windsor,  or  to  its  union  or  appropriation  thereto, 
by  apostolic  or  any  other  authority  .  .  .  and  if 
I  ever  consented  thereto — which  I  do  not  admit, 
but  altogether  deny — I  did  so,  not  by  my  own 
free  will,  but  under  fear  such  as  may  affect  a 
man  of  reasonably  firm  mind.' 

Eton  school,  if  it  had  ever  entirely  ceased,  was 
resumed  either  at  Michaelmas  1466,  or  at  the 
beginning  of  I467,62  as  appears  from  an  imper- 
fect and  undated  account  roll  which  has  been 
hitherto  unnoticed.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  make 
out  exactly  what  period  this  roll  covers,  since 
dating  from  the  first  coming  (primo  adventu),  it 
gives  1 7  weeks'  commons  without  details.  It 
then  gives  the  third  term  with  the  usual  details, 
but  extends  this  term  to  27  weeks,  and  then 
begins  similar  details  for  '  the  first  week  of  this 
year '  and  the  rest  of  that  term.  This  apparently 
refers  to  the  Michaelmas  term  of  1467,  which 
was  the  normal  beginning  of  the  college  year. 
The  income  for  the  period  to  31  December  1467 
amounted  10^321,  but  of  this  £13  was  attri- 
buted to  a  legacy  from  John  Bower,  one  of  the 
earliest  fellows,  presumably  for  the  obit,  which 
was  afterwards  maintained  in  remembrance  of 
him  ;  and  £2  ids.  was  for  an  old  debt  of 
Thomas  Capron,  paid  by  his  wife.  Apparently 
only  the  provost,  a  temporary  head  master, 
and  half  a  dozen  boys  came  at  first,  as  the  com- 
mons '  at  their  first  corning '  only  amounted  to 
6s.  id.,  and  next  week  to  <)s.  6d.  By  the  end 
of  the  quarter  beginning  at  Lady  Day  the 
weekly  commons  amounted  to  401.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  third  term,  Midsummer  Day, 
there  were  the  provost,  2  fellows,  the  head 
master,  usher,  i  chaplain,  6  clerks,  and  20 
'  scholars,  choristers,  and  servitors,'  who  gradu- 
ally rose  to  26.  In  the  i6th  week  the  number 
of  the  scholars  suddenly  rose  to  43,  and  by  the 
27th  week  to  52,  though  how  the  term  managed 
to  have  27  weeks  is  a  mystery.  The  rise  in  num- 
bers was  due  to  a  new  election  held  on  8  July 
1467,  the  morrow  of  the  translation  of  St. 
Thomas  the  Martyr  (Becket),  the  earliest  possible 
day  according  to  the  statutes.  The  election 
roll  is  extant.  It  contains  71  names,  7  of  which 
are  found  on  the  roll  for  King's  the  following 
year,  though  only  one  had  then  attained  the 
statutable  age  of  1 8,  and  one  was  no  more  than 
1 5  years  old,  while  22  of  them  eventually  went  to 
King's,  showing  that  there  were  large  gaps  to 
fill  in  that  college  also.  Of  those  on  the  roll  I  7 
came  from  London,  7  from  Hampshire,  4  from 
Cambridgeshire,  and  the  rest  dispersedly  from 
various  counties.  Two  of  those  elected  to  King's 


this  year  seem  to  have  declined  admission,  and 
their  places  were  taken  by  the  two  last  on  the 
roll,  one  of  whom  was  twenty-two  years  old,  and 
probably  a  scholar  at  the  time  of  Henry  VI,  who 
had  gone  ofFelsewhere  meanwhile.  The  huge  roll 
of  71  must  have  been  intended  to  supply  a 
very  large  deficiency  in  the  full  numbers  at 
Eton.  All  certainly  were  not  admitted,  as  three 
or  four  are  found  at  the  top  of  the  roll  next 
year.  But  the  majority  must  have  been  admitted. 
This  large  election  was  made  in  anticipation  of 
the  re-endowment  of  the  college  effected  by 
letters  patent  ten  days  later,  17  July  I4&7,61 
the  grant  being  in  frankalmoign,  i.e.  by  way 
of  charity,  to  pray  for  the  souls  of  King  Edward 
IV  and  his  queen,  Edward  thus  being  sub- 
stituted as  founder  for  Henry  VI.  The  main 
items,  apart  from  the  apportus  payable  to  alien 
houses,  were  the  hospital  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
Dorchester  ;  the  priories  of  Langford — '  Hang- 
inglangford '  it  is  usually  called  in  the  accounts 
— in  Wiltshire  ;  Brimpsfield,  Gloucestershire  ; 
Modbury  and  Cowick,  Devonshire  ;  Blakenham, 
Suffolk  ;  St.  Helen's,  Isle  of  Wight ;  most  of  the 
possessionsof  Ogbourne  Priory,including  Weedon 
Beck  ;  and  the  reversion  of  St.  James'  Hospital, 
now  St.  James'  Palace,  '  by  Westminster,'  after 
the  death  of  Roger  Malmesbury,  who  on  the 
resumption  had  been  appointed  warden.  Pov- 
ington  Priory,64  Dorset,  was  also  included  ;  but 
this,  mysteriously  enough,  though  granted  17  May 
1474  to  St.  George's,  Windsor,  is  found  after- 
wards among  the  Eton  possessions,  and  was  event- 
ually exchanged  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI  for 
other  property.  It  seems  probable  that  the  intro- 
duction into  the  statutes  of  the  oaths  of  the  fellows 
that  they  '  will  not  favour  the  damned  opinions, 
errors,  or  heresies  of  John  Wycliff,  Reginald 
Pecok,  or  other  heretic  while  he  lives,  on  pain, 
of  perjury  and  expulsion  ipso  facto,'  was  effected 
at  this  time.  For  the  persecution  of  poor  Pecok 
was  a  Yorkist  bid  for  the  favour  of  the  Church. 

The  head  master  shown  in  the  roll  of  1466-7 
was  Clement  Smythe,  who  had  returned  from 
Winchester  at  the  reduced  pay  of  j£iO  a  year, 
to  which  amount,  the  same  as  that  of  the  head 
master  of  Winchester,  instead  of  ^i  6  as  contem- 
plated by  Henry's  statutes,  the  salary  of  the  head 
master  of  Eton  was  permanently  reduced  until 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Clement  Smythe  was 
paid  for  three  terms  only,  showing  that  he  came 
at  Lady  Day  1467.  Some  scholars  accompanied 
or  were  found  by  the  provost '  at  his  first  advent,' 
and  were  taught  by  one  Henry  Grymston,  who 
was  paid  6s.  8d.  fro  informacione  puerorum,  and 
then  by  '  Sir '  Walter  Barbour.  Richard  Profett, 
the  principal  servant,  who  like  the  rest  suffered 
a  reduction  of  wages  from  £5  a  year  to  £2,  in 
the  absence  of  fellows,  was  sent  on  estates  busi- 


68  See  Eton  Audit  Rolls. 


168 


M  Pat.  7  Edw.  IV,  pt.  iv,  m.  13. 
44  Pat.  14  Edw.  IV,  pt.  i,  m.  i. 


SCHOOLS 


ness,  and  also  '  to  Cambridge  in  January  for 
"Sir"  Walter  Barbour,  at  a  cost  of  14*.  8</.' 
Barbour  filled  up  the  rest  of  the  first  term  till 
Clement  Smythe's  return.  He  then  seems  to 
have  gone  back  to  Cambridge  to  finish  his  course 
and  take  his  M.A.  degree,  after  which,  in  1470, 
then  described  as  magister,  he  succeeded  Clement 
Smythe  in  the  head-mastership.  John  Upnor 
came  as  bostiariui  for  two  terms  and  five  weeks, 
and  was  succeeded  in  the  following  year  by 
Richard  Hakier.  By  the  end  of  the  year 
three  fellows  had  returned,  Richard  Hopton,  the 
ex-head  master,  who  was  vice-provost,  William 
Weye,  and  William  Strete.  John  Boner  had 
also  returned,  but  only  to  die.  Apparently  five 
choristers  came,  their  places  being  temporarily 
supplied  by  five  boys  who  are  called  King's 
choristers,  and  had  sheets,  blankets,  shoes,  and 
surplices  bought  for  them.  The  only  element 
of  the  college  which  never  reappeared  was  the 
almsfolk.  They  were  finally  dropped,  and 
were  never  resumed  for  400  years. 

The  cost  of  getting  restitution  was  consider- 
able. Apart  from  'a  fresh  salmon  given  to  the 
king  at  Windsor  '  at  a  cost  of  lew.,  61.  Sd.  was  paid 
for  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Bishop  (sic)  of  York, 
George  Neville,  then  Chancellor  of  England,  for 
the  restitution  of  the  letters  patent,  41.  lod.  for 
writing  two  bills  in  Parliament,  6s.  8J.  to  the 
king's  attorney  [general],  Henry  Sucell,  13*.  4^. 
to  the  king's  secretary  for  two  letters,  and  for  two 
more  under  the  Privy  Seal  131.  ^d.  The  writ- 
ing of  letters  patent  cost  IOJ.,  their  enrolment 
6s.  8d. ;  two  fines  to  the  king  for  two  grants  cost 
£16  181.  ;  5*.  was  paid  to  the  valet  of  the 
wardrobe  for  taking  down  arras  in  St.  George's 
College,  Windsor  ;  and  a  letter  of  Privy  Seal  to 
the  Dean  and  Canons  of  the  college  of  Windsor 
for  restitution  of  goods  cost  6s.  8d.  ;  while  the 
official  of  the  king's  antechamber  was  given  I  Of. 
For  a  licence  in  mortmain  a  fine  of  £8  was  paid, 
apparently  for  the  grant  of  Goldcliff  Priory  in 
Wales.  Two  letters  to  the  pope  cost  only  IOJ. ; 
copies  of  the  provisions  to  be  had  and  writing 
them  cost  y.  ^d.t  and  writing  Pope  Calixtus' 
bull  5*.  Finally,  the  king's  attorney,  Henry 
Sucell,  received  £i  as  a  fee,  and  the  solicitor, 
Richard  Lovell,  13*.  ^d. 

So  speedily,  however,  in  spite  of  all,  were  the 
old  customs  renewed  that  the  three  bonfires 
('  bencfyres*)  on  Midsummer  eve  and  the  eve  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  and  of  St.  Thomas  the 
Martyr  were  duly  provided  for.  The  celebra- 
tion of  the  feast  of  the  Assumption  was,  however, 
on  a  much  reduced  scale,  only  £4  odd  being 
spent,  instead  of  over  £30  ;  and  the  costs  of  the 
election  were  reduced  to  £2  2s.  ^d.  In  subse- 
quent years  each  item  became  fixed  at  £5  a 
year. 

In  1468  the  regular  Audit  Rolls  recommenced, 
but  the  account  for  that  year  is  made  up  from 
I  January,  instead  of  from  Michaelmas.  It 


shows  an  income  of  £3  70  instead  of  close  on 
£1,500  a  year,  as  it  was  in  1458.  No  provost 
or  fellow  received  any  pay  this  year  ;  though  the 
provost  was  paid  for  this  year  in  the  following 
year,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  at  the  rate  of 
£20  a  year,  instead  of  £75  which  he  had  pre- 
viously received.  The  fellows  never  again  rose 
in  number  above  seven,nor  their  salaries  above  £5. 
There  were  only  three  chaplains  instead  of  io,and 
four  clerks  instead  of  10  ;  while  in  the  first  week 
there  were  only  52  scholars,  choristers,  and  servi- 
tors in  commons,  instead  of  109.  In  July  the 
number  went  down  to  22,  but  this  seems  to 
have  been  due  to  an  outbreak  of  plague,  their 
commons  being  paid  to  outsiders  '  at  the  time  of 
pest  in  the  town.' 

Wayneflete  seems  to  have  borne  an  important 
part  in  the  resuscitation  of  Eton,  as  the  accounts 
contain  frequent  entries  of  expenses  of  Provost 
Westbury  on  visits  paid  'to  the  lord  of  Win- 
chester,' which  in  January  1468—9  were  for  '  be- 
ginning the  works  of  the  church,'  and  '  for 
providing  money  for  them.'  Notwithstanding 
that  Wayneflete  was  the  principal  overseer  ap- 
pointed by  Henry's  will,  and  was  his  chancellor 
up  to  the  battle  of  Northampton,  in  spite  of 
endeavours  made  to  ruin  him  on  charges  of 
oppression  of  his  tenants  in  Edward's  first  Parlia- 
ment, he  seems  to  have  soon  been  admitted  to 
favour.  After  the  resuscitation  of  Eton  he 
loyally  carried  out  to  the  best  of  his  power  the 
trust  reposed  in  him  by  Henry.  No  £1,000  a 
year  was  now  forthcoming  from  the  Crown 
revenues.  So  he  had  to  do  whatever  was  done 
at  his  own  expense,  though  he  was  himself  ex- 
pending vast  sums  on  the  foundation  of  his 
own  college  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen  at  Oxford. 
Edward  IV  so  far  interested  himself  as  to  allow  the 
college,  by  privy  seal  of  21  March  1471—2,  to 
take  so  much  chalk  and  flint  from  Windsor  Park 
'as  shalbe  necessary  for  the  ful  bylding  of  the 
said  churche.'  Wayneflete's  glazier  provided  the 
glass  of  the  east  and  other  windows,  and  Wayne- 
flete contracted,  15  August  1475,"  with  a 
Southwark**  carpenter,  Walter  Nichol,  who  for 
IOO  marks  was  to  make  the  stalls  and  rood  loft 
'  for  utter  (i.e.  west)  parte  .  .  .  like  to  the  Rode 
lofte  late  made  in  Bisshop  Wykehams  Collage  at 
Winchestrc,  and  the  inner  part  .  .  .  with  the 
garnysshing  of  all  the  stalles  .  .  .  like  to  the 
rode  loft  and  quere  of  the  collage  of  Seint 
Thomas  of  Acres  in  London,*  where  is  now  the 
Mercers'  Hall.  On  8  January  1479*'  Wayneflete, 
also  at  his  own  expense,  contracted  for  a  supply  of 
stone  from  Headington,  near  Oxford,  for  the 
'  werke  he  hath  at  Etone.'  Abandoning  the 
vast  nave,  he  built  the  antechapel  at  the  west 

**  Willis  and  Clark,  op.  cit.  i,  $96. 

14  The  Bishop  of  Winchester's  London  house  wa» 


then  in  Southwark,  close  to  St.  Mary  Ovcry. 
v  Willis  and  Clark,  op.  cit.  i,  410. 

169  22 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


end  as  it  now  stands,  after  the  Wykehamical 
model  as  seen  at  New  College,  All  Souls,  and 
Magdalen  Colleges.  The  church  was  finally 
finished  (on  this  truncated  scale)  in  1487-8,  with 
a  series  of  elaborate  paintings,  still  in  part  re- 
maining behind  the  panelling,  and  discovered 
when  the  church  was  '  restored  '  in  1847.  The 
Prince  Consort,  who  superintended  the  work, 
would  not  allow  the  pictures  to  remain  on  view, 
as  being  '  papistical.'  From  the  drawings  given 
in  Sir  H.  Maxwell  Lyte's  History  they  were 
very  beautiful.  They  have  been  variously  attri- 
buted to  Italian  and  Flemish  artists.  But  seeing 
that  the  only  painter  mentioned  by  name  is 
William  Baker,  and  that  all  the  colours  paid  for 
are  in  the  Bursars'  Rolls  expressly  given  in 
English  as  well  as  Latin  (e.g.  colon  viridi,  ang/ice, 
vertagrece  ;  colore  fulvo,  sc.  oker  ;  colors  blodio, 
anglice,  blew),  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  'anti- 
patriotic  bias '  which  prevails  in  art  has  been 
allowed  to  deprive  English  workmen  of  the 
credit  of  the  work.  As  Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  has 
pointed  out  that  the  subjects  and  treatment  are 
very  much  the  same  as  some  paintings  in  the 
Lady  chapel  of  Winchester  Cathedral,  and  the 
subjects  are  taken  from  a  book  then  newly  pub- 
lished in  England,  Vincent  de  Beauvais'  Speculum 
Historiale,  the  ascription  of  the  work  to  foreign- 
ers seems  wholly  unwarranted. 

In  1469  the  Audit  Roll  records  only  three 
quarters  of  a  year  from  New  Year's  Day  to 
Michaelmas,  in  order  that  the  regular  series  from 
Michaelmas  to  Michaelmas  might  be  resumed. 
During  this  time  '  Sir '  William  Darker  was  paid 
y.  j.d.  for  his  expenses  from  Oxford  for  the 
office  of  usher,  and  at  Michaelmas  he  suc- 
ceeded Hakyer.  Clement  Smythe  retired  in 
February  1469-70  on  a  canonry  at  Windsor, 
which  he  afterwards  exchanged  for  one  at  War- 
wick, where  he  died  some  twenty  years  later. 

Though  Eton  recovered  some  of  its  possessions 
in  1467,  it  was  some  years  before  the  annexation 
to  Windsor  was  formally  revoked.  This  was 
done  by  a  decree  of  Cardinal  Archbishop  Bour- 
chier,  30  August  1476,  in  virtue  of  a  bull  of 
Pope  Paul  II  of  1470,  which,  on  a  petition  from 
Edward  IV,  stating  that  he  had  been  misinformed 
as  to  the  unfinished  state  of  the  college,  commis- 
sioned the  archbishop  to  inquire  into  the  matter, 
and,  if  satisfied,  to  revoke  the  former  bull  of 
union.  Proceedings  were  begun  on  this  bull  in 
November  and  December  1470,  during  the 
restoration  of  Henry  VI,  which  lasted  from 
October  to  April  1470—1.  A  large  sum,  over  £22, 
was  spent  on  '  rewards  to  doctors  in  law,  nota- 
ries, proctors,  and  clerks  for  expediting  the  Bull 
for  the  separation  of  our  college  of  Eton  from 
that  of  St.  George's,  Windsor.'  The  advantage 
taken  of  the  restoration  thus  to  hurry  on  the 
proceedings  had  no  doubt  an  adverse  effect  on 
the  mind  of  Edward  IV,  and  was  the  cause  of 
their  being  stopped,  and  of  the  commission  re- 


maining in  abeyance  for  another  six  years.  It 
is  not  perhaps  guessing  too  much  if  we  credit 
the  final  separation  to  the  good  offices  of  Thomas 
Rotherham,  who,  though  only  a  nominal  Etonian, 
admitted  on  one  day  to  qualify  him  colourably 
for  admission  to  King's  the  next,  was  a  Kingsman 
of  many  years'  standing,  and  in  1475  not  only 
diocesan  of  Buckinghamshire  as  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, but  also  Lord  Chancellor. 

Many  payments  are  recorded  in  that  year  for 
gifts  to  divers  of  the  council  *8  for  expediting  the 
bull  directed  to  the  cardinal  archbishop.  The 
final  item  '  in  part  of  the  expenses  of  the 
counsel  of  the  college  riding  into  Kent  to  the  Lord 
Cardinal  to  give  sentence  under  the  delegating 
bull '  amounted  to  £4,  while  John  Harper,  valet  of 
the  Crown,  was  given  30*.  for  bringing  the 
letters  of  privy  seal  for  the  restitution  of  the 
college  goods,  the  Dean  of  Windsor  being  ap- 
peased with  a  trout,  a  pike,  and  wine  at  a  cost 
of  5*. 

The  first  head  master  after  the  restitution  was 
Walter  Barbour,  coming  in  February  1470.  Of 
him  nothing  has  hitherto  been  known,  except 
that  he  is  entered  in  the  Eton  register  as  '  father 
of  Walter  the  hermit,'  a  person  who  may  have 
been  well  known  then,  but  is  unknown  now. 
Barbour  was  perhaps  a  relation  of  William  of 
Wayneflete,  whose  father  is  described  in  a  deed  " 
of  his  great-niece,  Juliana  Chirchestyle,  as 
'  Richard  Patyn  alias  dicti  Barbour.'  He  was  an 
Etonian,  and  on  the  roll  for  King's  in  I458.60 

Barbour  is  recorded  "  in  1473-4  as  the  medium 
of  payment  of  lod.  '  for  the  binding  of  a  school- 
book,  viz.  Ovid ' ;  the  first  school-book  mentioned 
in  the  Audit  Rolls. 

In  1471  the  number  of  the  scholars,  &c.,  rose  to 
71.  We  are  able  to  recover  the  names  of  a  few 
of  the  scholars  of  this  epoch,  from  the  custom 
springing  up  of  boarding  the  scholars  out  when 
they  were  ill,  and  entering  the  payments  made 
for  them  on  the  Audit  Roll.  Among  them  was 
one  John  Gyott,  who  had  necessaries  bought  for 
him  in  1469,  and  is  described  in  1475-6  as  'the 
King's  scholar,'  having  been  presumably  nomi- 
nated by  the  king,  the  first  recorded  instance 
of  what  grew  to  be  a  regular  practice.  Thus 
William  Kidylton,  who  got  off  to  King's  in 

68  '  Diversis  de  consilio  pro  expedicione  cuiusdam 
bulle.'     This  may  mean  '  to  divers  counsel.' 

69  15   Dec.    1497;    in    Magd.    Coll.    Oxon.    Reg. 
Admiss.  (or  C.),  fol.  84^.     Printed  in  Macray's  Reg. 
(new  ser.),  ii,  p.  ix. 

60  Alumni  Eton,  gives  it  as  1457.     But  the  dates  of 
the  reigns  of  Henry  VI  and  Edward  IV  in  that  work 
are  wrong,  through  not  observing  that  the  roll   being 
made  up  in  July  or  the  first  half  of  August,  the  year 
of  the  king  is  for  this  purpose  a  year  later  in  years  of 
the  Lord  than  that  in  which   the  year  of  the  king 
began. 

61  Aud.  R.  14  &   15   Edw.  IV,  'pro  ligatura  libri 
scole,  viz.  Ovidii.' 


170 


SCHOOLS 


1478,  and  a  chorister,  William  Marchall,  were 
in  1469-70  boarded  for  a  time  with  Richard 
Bernyeat.  In  1472,  besides  Capland,  Ellysmer, 
Lute,  Ralph  Crete,  no  doubt  a  scion  of  the 
family  of  Creykc,  in  the  East  Riding,  who  to 
this  day  habitually  bear  the  name  of  Ralph,  all 
of  whom  afterwards  appear  on  the  rolls  for 
King's,  Philip  Berte,  no  doubt  of  the  family  of 
the  Earls  of  Abingdon,  John  Parker,  Henry 
Reynold,  Robert  Cotton,  Hyll,  and  Forde  are 
named.  So  in  other  years.  A  considerable  ad- 
dition to  the  Alumni  Etonensn  could  be  made 
from  these  entries. 

Barbour's  ushers  were  William  Darker,  Janu- 
ary 1470—4  ;  then  Maurice  Bye,  at  Michaelmas 
1474  ;  Henry  Brydde  or  Byrd,  an  Etonian,  who 
went  to  King's  in  1470  ;  and  at  Michaelmas 
1475,  Edward  Huett. 

Westbury  died  on  II  March  1477,  devis- 
ing to  the  college  a  house  in  Windsor.  The 
fellows  first  elected  as  provost  one  of  themselves, 
Thomas  Barker,"  who  was  a  Henrician  fellow 
and  for  many  years  vice-provost  ;  but  the  king 
having  nominated  Henry  Bost,  Barker  resigned, 
fearing  the  king's  anger  equivalent  to  death,  or, 
as  his  epitaph  puts  it,  cant  hanari  Nolem  ;  id 
meminity  mars  indignatio  regum.  Henry  Bost  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  Eton  a  few  days  before  his 
election  as  provost,  to  qualify  him  according  to 
the  statutes.  From  this  time  forward,  in  spite 
of  the  statutes,  the  provostship  of  Eton  was 
always  treated  as  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  the 
appointee  being  colourably  elected  a  fellow  first. 
Bost  was  a  distinguished  person,  being  already 
master  of  King's  Hall,  a  foundation  of  Ed- 
ward III,  now  absorbed  in  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  He  held  office  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  is  said  in  his  epitaph  to  have  got  wealth  for 
Eton  through  the  influence  of  Edward's  queen, 
Elizabeth  : 

Illius  auspiciis  elemosyna  conjugis  uncti 
Edwardi  quart!  larga  fluebat  opem. 

This  statement  disproves  the  '  tradition '  that  it 
was  Jane  Shore  through  whom  the  grants  were 
obtained.  This  '  tradition  '  may  be  dismissed  to 
the  limbo  of  inventions  with  the  similar  ones 
which  made  William  of  Wykeham  buy  his 
pardon  from  Edward  III  through  his  mistress, 
Alice  Ferrers,  and  credits  Chelsea  Hospital  to  the 
intervention  of  Nell  Gwyn.  There  seems  to 
be  no  authority  for  the  ascription  of  two  pictures 
at  Eton  and  King's  respectively  to  Jane  Shore. 
The  queen's  family,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 
person  of  her  brother  Anthony,  Lord  Wodevill, 
and  his  relations,  was  specially  commemorated  by 
an  obit  in  Eton  Chapel  for  having  procured  a 
regrant  of  property  in  the  city  of  London.  The 
provost's  salary  was  raised  in  1482-3  from  £20 
to  £30,  though  the  fellows'  and  masters'  salaries 
remained  unchanged. 


*  Maxwell  Lyte,  op.  cit.  83. 


The  head  masters  of  this  era  reigned  by  no 
means  as  long  as  the  provosts.  The  next 
master,  David  Hawbroke  or  Haukbroke,  c. 
1479,  was  another  Wykehamist,  as  he  may  be 
identified  with  David  Haukbroke,  who  appears 
in  the  Bursars'  Rolls  of  Winchester  College  as 
hostiarius  or  usher  there,  at  first  under  Clement 
Smythe  and  then  under  his  successor,  from  Lady 
Day  1464  to  Michaelmas  1469.  Whether  in 
the  interim  he  was  teaching  some  other  school 
does  not  appear.  Several  Audit  Rolls  are  missing 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  In  1482-3  the 
usher  was  Thomas  Fox,  a  Winchester  scholar  in 
1473,  succeeded  at  Midsummer  by  John  Ash  ton. 
Hawbroke  continued  to  Michaelmas  1483.  From 
Michaelmas  1 484  to  1 4  February  1 485-6,  Thomas 
Mache  or  Machy,  unidentified,  was  master,  with 
John  Ashton  as  usher.  Machy  seems  to  have  been 
dismissed  and  to  have  removed  with  himself  a  Virgil 
belonging  to  the  school.  At  least  the  Audit  Roll 
for  the  year  records,  '  paid  to  John  Barston  for 
redemption  of  a  Virgil  furtively  taken  away  * ; 
while  neighbouring  items  are  '  for  a  lock  and  12 
keys  to  the  library  door '  and  '  laid  out  on  the 
officials  of  the  Court  of  Arches  for  the  matter 
of  the  College  against  Mr.  Mache,  and  expenses 
of  Mr.  William  Attwater  (a  fellow,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Lincoln)  to  London  for  4  days, 
2OJ.  4</.'  In  Mache's  successor,  William  Hor- 
man,  head  master  from  the  middle  of  February 
1485-6,  Eton  acquired  from  Winchester 
(scholar  1468)  and  New  College  (scholar  i  July 
1475  M)  a  famous  man.  He  remained  a  fellow 
of  New  College  till  his  election  at  Eton,  his 
place  there  being  filled  2  February  1485.**  He 
was  head  master  of  Eton  for  nine  years,  and  then 
was  promoted  to  the  head-mastership  of  Win- 
chester, which  was  evidently  regarded  as  a  higher 
place.  He  remained  at  Winchester  from  Lady 
Day  1495  to  Michaelmas  1501,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Eton  as  a  fellow.  He  was  vice-pro- 
vost for  many  years  until  his  death  12  April  1535, 
when  he  was  buried  in  the  church.  His  fame 
has  come  down  to  our  day  in  virtue  of  a  school 
book  called  Bulgaria*  The  frequent  references 
to  Greek,  and  especially  to  the  performance  of 
Greek  plays,  bears  out  Sir  Thomas  Pope's  state- 
ment in  1556  that  in  his  day  Greek  learning 
flourished  at  Eton.  Herman's  book  involved 
him  in  a  fierce  controversy  with  Robert 
Whittington,  a  rival  schoolmaster  and  school 
author,  who  called  himself  Bcisus,  to  which  he 
and  Lily,  the  high  master  of  St.  Paul's,  replied 
in  a  book  entitled  Anti  bosticon.  Herman's 

"  The  scholars  of  New  College  up  to  1854  were 
really  fellows,  though  they  were  called  scholars  during 
their  two  yean  of  probation. 

—  There  ii  absolutely  no  foundation  for  the  claim 
that  he  was  a  Cambridge  man,  made  in  Cooper's 
Athtnat  Cantabrigieniti. 

«  Leach,  Hut.  Winch.  Cttt.  217  ;  Maxwell  Lyte, 
Eton,  110-13. 


171 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


versatility  is  shown  by  his  being  also  the  author 
of  two  works  on  anatomy,  so  probably  he 
had  been  one  of  the  medical  fellows  of  New 
College.  He  gave  to  Eton  12  of  the  100  MSS. 
which  the  college  now  possesses.67  Under  Hor- 
man  the  ushers  were  Mr.  Eryll,  Christmas 
1485-6  to  Lady  Day  1488  ;  Thomas  Lyrypyn, 
1488  to  Michaelmas  1489  and  perhaps  beyond; 
from  Michaelmas  1492  to  Midsummer  1493 
Lane,  then  Grey  for  three  terms.  Eryll  was 
Henry  Earle,  a  Winchester  scholar  (1472)  and 
fellow  of  New  College  (1481-5).  In  a  letter68 
written  at  Winchester  17  October  1486,  King 
Henry  VII  asked  '  the  Regentes  of  owre 
Universitie  off  Oxenforde '  to  '  dyspense  with 
the  regencie,'  i.e.  the  '  contynuall  abode  there  as 
necessary  regent  by  an  hole  yere '  of  '  Maister 
Henry  Erie,  huisshere  of  the  gramer  scole  withyn 
owre  college  of  Eton,  late  commencyde  in  arte 
withyn  owre  Universitie '  as  '  the  sayde  maister 
Henry  is  necessary  and  behofull  for  the  goode 
and  formall  contynuance  yn  lerninge  off  such 
children  and  scolars  which  be  att  owre  Exhibition 
yn  owre  sayde  college,  and  yff  he  shulde  be 
remevyd  and  chaungyde  ther  tyme  myght  turne 
and  slyde  to  dispendy.'  Lyrypyn  or  Lyrpyn 
was  from  the  same  colleges,  and  in  1 494  became 
a  fellow  of  Winchester,  where  his  effigy  in  brass 
may  still  be  seen.  He  died  30  March  1509. 

For  Edward  Powell,  the  next  head  master, 
1494-6,  recourse  was  again  had  to  Oriel  College, 
and  he  was  very  probably  an  old  Etonian. 
Nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  his  head-master- 
ship at  Eton  ;  but  in  after  days  he  became  an 
eminent  ecclesiastical  lawyer,  canon  of  Lincoln 
and  Salisbury,  rector  of  the  college  of  St.  Ed- 
mund there,  and  D.D.69  He  got  some  favour  for 
writing  in  1 523  a  defence  of  the  seven  sacraments 
against  Martin  Luther,  whom  he  dubbed  '  smoky 
friar  and  eminent  Wickliffite '  ;  but  more  dis- 
favour for  a  tract  against  the  divorce  of  Queen 
Catherine,  and  was  executed  30  July  1540  as  a 
traitor  for  denying  the  royal  supremacy.  His 
successor  at  Eton,  Nicholas  Bradbrigg  or  Brad- 
bridge,  came  in  July  1496,  with  Haffbrd, 
Haward,  or  Howard  as  usher,  who  gave  place  in 
1498  to  Such  for  half  a  year,  followed  by 
Clerke  for  half  a  year,  and  then  by  Barrett  for 
two  years.  Haward  was  perhaps  Philip  Haward, 
who  went  to  King's  in  1493,  and  Barrett  John 
Barrett,  who  went  to  King's  in  1495.  Brad- 
bridge  held  for  five  years  and  left  at  Michaelmas 
1501.  Two  or  three  years  later  he  became  head 
master  of  Chichester  Grammar  School.  A 
canonry  and  prebend  in  the  cathedral  had  been 
annexed  to  the  head-mastership  of  this  school  by 
Bishop  Story  in  I497,70  which  caused  it  to  be  re- 
garded at  this  time  as  promotion  by  the  masters 

67  Wasey  Sterry,  op.  cit.  67. 

68  Anstey,  Epist.  Acad.  (Oxf.  Hist.   Soc.),   no.  334. 

69  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon.  53. 

70  V.C.H.  Sussex,  '  Schools,'  ii,  404-5. 


both  of  Eton  and  Winchester.  Of  Robert 
Yong,  who  came  as  master  at  Michaelmas  1501, 
nothing  is  known.  He  only  stayed  for  a  year. 
John  Smyth,  who  succeeded  at  Michaelmas  1502, 
may  be  identified  with  that  one  of  the  name  who 
was  third  on  the  roll  from  Eton  to  King's  in 
1492  ;  while  John  Vyse  the  usher  was  a  scholar 
of  Winchester  (1495)  and  of  New  College 
(i497).71  The  next  usher,  William  Snelle,  was 
a  Reading  boy,  scholar  of  Winchester  1497, 
and  fellow  of  New  College  1505,  is.  8d.  being 
the  cost  of  fetching  him  from  Oxford.  King 
Henry  VII  visited  the  college  on  21  October  with 
'  divers  magnates '  at  a  cost  of  £  1 9  CM.  9^. 
John  Smyth  held  office  till  Michaelmas  1507. 

On  27  February  1504"  Roger  Lupton  was 
made  provost  by  the  king,  after  a  colourable 
election  as  fellow.  Lupton  was  one  of  the 
successful  civil  servants  and  ecclesiastical  lawyers 
who  obtained  the  chief  preferments  in  the 
Church  as  their  pay.  He  was  a  north  country- 
man, born  at  Sedbergh  73  in  Yorkshire,  on  the 
borders  of  Lancashire,  in  July  1456.  At  Cam- 
bridge he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Canon 
Law  in  1483,  and  was  presented  by  Richard  III 
to  the  rectory  of  Harlton  in  Cambridgeshire 
in  1484.  As  his  favourite  description  of  him- 
self is  '  Doctor  of  Canon  '  or  *  of  decrees,'  it 
may  be  presumed  that  he  duly  took  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Canon  Law.  In  the  interval  of 
fifteen  years  which  elapsed  before  he  again  re- 
ceived clerical  preferment  from  the  Crown  he 
practised  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  He  was 
made  a  canon  of  Windsor  24  November  1500, 
and  it  is  to  this  preferment  he  probably  owed 
his  election  to  Eton.  In  his  long  provostship 
of  thirty-one  years,  no  one,  not  even  Wayne- 
flete,  left  so  great  a  mark  on  the  college.  Its 
most  striking  and  conspicuous  portion,  the  great 
gateway  tower  of  the  inner  quadrangle  and  the 
splendid  range  of  buildings  on  either  side  of  it, 
the  provost's  lodgings,  which  front  the  visitor  on 
entrance,  and  form  the  western  side  of  the  quad- 
rangle, together  with  the  whole  northern  range 
of  buildings  in  the  outer  court,  Long  Chamber, 
and  the  old  school,  now  called  the  Lower  School, 
on  the  left  of  the  outer  entrance,  are  his  handi- 
work. He  himself  reposes  under  a  stately  monu- 
ment in  the  beautiful  little  chantry  chapel  on 
the  north  side  of  the  '  church,'  in  which  are 
collected  the  monuments  of  the  pre-Reformation 
provosts.  Thus  Lupton 's  Tower  and  Lupton's 
Chantry  still  perpetuate  his  name  at  Eton. 

Long  Chamber  was  the  first  of  Lupton's 
works,  and  may  have  been  built  at  his  own  cost, 

71  Alumni  Eton.  6. 

"  Maxwell  Lyte,  op.  cit.  6 1 1.  But  Alumni  Eton. 
gives  his  election  as  fellow  on  22  Feb.  1503.  There 
is  something  wrong  about  the  dates.  Cooper  in 
Athen.  Cant,  probably  gives  the  dates  rightly,  as  fellow 
on  1 6  Feb.  and  provost  27  Feb.  1502—3. 

"  Leach,  Early  Forks.  Schools,  ii,  xli. 


I72 


SCHOOLS 


as  the  only  entries  relating  to  it  in  the  accounts 
are  'for  cleaning  the  new  chamber'  in  1504-5, 
'  for  a  lamp  for  the  new  chamber  of  the  college 
boys'  in  1 506-7,**  and  'for  a  pair  of  hinges 
for  the  chamber  of  the  Master  Informator '  in 
1511—12.  But  the  accounts  for  1503-4  are 
missing  and  the  expense  of  the  building  was  prob- 
ably entered  in  the  rolls  for  that  year.  Payment 
was  made  of  2os.  for  '  old  earnest-money  "  at  the 
time  of  building  the  new  school,"  and  for '  work  on 
the  roof  of  the  Almshouse  for  1 5  days  and  of  the 
school  (gymnasia)  for  2  days  '  in  1514-15.  Mr. 
J.  W.  Clark  thinks  this  was  not  a  new  building, 
but  a  rebuilding.  But  the  chief  reasons  assigned 
are  that  in  1469-70  there  was  a  payment  for 
twelve  beds  '  pro  nova  camera  puerorum  collegii.' 
This  is  no  proof  that  the  boys  all  slept  in  one 
chamber,  but,  on  the  contrary,  suggests  that  they 
were  divided  into  six  separate  chambers,  with 
no  more  than  12  boys  in  each,  and  that  a  new 
chamber  had  for  some  reason  been  added  ;  per- 
haps one  of  the  extinct  fellows'  chambers.  In 
1470—1  tilers  were  paid  for  three  weeks'  work 
'  about  the  repairs  of  the  hall,  the  scholars' 
chamber,  and  the  new  house  by  the  pantry,' 
while  another  man  was  paid  '  for  clearing  the 
underground  vault  and  the  boys'  latrine.'  This 
shows,  Mr.  Clark  says,  that  '  the  boys'  latrine 
was  by  the  sewer  which  still  passes  under  the 
east  of  Long  Chamber.'  But  he  himself  gives 
quotations  which  bring  the  sewer  into  connexion 
with  the  kitchen.  The  fact  is,  the  open  sewer 
probably  then,  as  at  St.  Cross  Hospital  still,  passed 
all  round  the  buildings.  The  first  entry  quoted 
brings  the  boys'  chamber  in  question  into  con- 
nexion with  the  hall  and  pantry,  that  is,  with  the 
west  side  of  the  inner  quadrangle,  and  probably  re- 
fers to  the  new  chamber  only.  In  the  Audit  Roll 
of  1475—6  is  positive  proof,  which  has  been  over- 
looked, that  they  were  not  all  in  one  chamber. 
This  is  an  entry  of  payment  of  3^.  to  '  Mr. 
Walter  Barbour  (the  schoolmaster)  for  a  lock  and 
key  for  the  second  chamber  of  the  scholars ' ; 
while  in  another  roll  for  the  latter  part  of  the 
same  year  8</.  was  paid  for  a  lock  and  key 
camtre  puerorum,  which  must  be  a  different 
chamber  and  should  be  translated,  not  '  the,'  but 
*a*  boys' chamber.  So  in  1498—9  a  payment 
is  made  'for  repairs  of  the  boys'  chambers' 
(cubicuhrum).  In  1506—7  lOi.  was  paid  to  'one 
cleaning  the  children's  chambers '  (uni  mundanti 

"  Willii  and  Clark,  op.  cit.  417,  430.  What  Mr. 
Clark  describes  at  '  the  room  or  enclosure  called  the 
Gymnasium '  is  of  course  the  school.  Maxwell  Lyte, 
op.  cit.  98,  has  by  mistake  transferred  the  entry  about 
the  new  school  to  the  earlier  year  I  $06—7.  From  a 
reference  to  the  '  great  west  gate  by  the  kings  high- 
way next  the  Almshouse  '  in  1499-1  5°°>  a°d  to  the 
'great  west  gate  by  the  almshouse'  in  1516-17,  it  is 
clear  that  the  almshouse  stood  where  Upper  School 
now  stands. 

71  Pro  antijuis  ami ;  but  perhaps  it  means  '  the 
old  arras.' 


cameras  puerorum).  In  the  same  year  mention  is 
made  of  '  the  chambers  of  commoners  '  (cubiculii 
commensalium).  Provost  Lupton,  with  the  wealth 
of  accumulated  livings  and  canonries  and  lucra- 
tive legal  and  civil  offices,  such  as  the  clerkship  of 
the  Hanapcr,  which  he  held  in  1509,  and  the 
mastership  in  Chancery,  bestowed  on  him  in  1 529, 
was  not  content  with  the  four  chambers  formerly 
assigned  to  the  provost.  Wishing  to  extend  and 
rebuild  the  provost's  lodging  on  a  magnificent 
scale,  he  had  first  to  move  the  school  and  the 
masters'  and  scholars'  chambers.  So  he  rebuilt 
them  anew  on  the  ampler  spaces  of  the  outer  court, 
now  the  schoolyard.  That  it  was  considered  an 
improvement  at  the  time  is  shown  by  Long  Cham- 
ber, and  not  the  smaller  separate  chambers  of  Win- 
chester, having  been  adopted  as  the  model  at  the 
re-foundation  of  Westminster  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, though  a  Winchester  man  was  made  the 
first  head  master.  But  in  the  long  run  it  proved 
a  mistake.  The  life  in  Long  Chamber  became 
that  of  a  barracks  and  a  bear-garden,  with  the 
consequence  that  college  at  Eton  was  never  full 
and  the  scholarships  went  begging.  Not  till 
after  the  middle  of  the  1 9th  century  was  civiliza- 
tion introduced  by  annexing  the  master's  cham- 
bers at  the  east  end  and  the  usher's  at  the  west 
end,  and  cutting  Long  Chamber  up  into  separate 
cubicles. 

As  soon  as  the  new  school  and  chambers  were 
finished  in  1515-16  the  'old  buildings'  on  the 
west  side  of  the  quadrangle  were  pulled  down, 
and  on  2  March  1517  '  the  first  stone  was  layd 
yn  the  foundacyon  off  the  west  parte  of  the 
college,  whereon  ys  buylded  Mr.  Provost's  logyn 
the  gate  and  the  lyberary.'  The  Library  is  now 
Election  Chamber  (Clark),  or  Election  Hall 
(Maxwell  Lyte),  and  the  whole  range  is  now  the 
Provost's  lodging,  though  his  front  door  is  to  be 
found  in  Weston's  Yard.  The  Lupton  Chantry 
was  completed  by  1515  and  its  chaplain  endowed 
next  year.  Lupton's  obit  was  kept  from  that 
time  onwards,  though  he  was  still  alive,  on 
1 1  January,76  but  was  changed  after  his  death  to 
the  day  on  which  he  died,  27  February.  For 
presence  at  it  the  provost  received  2s.  8d.t  the 
master  if.  4^.,  the  usher  8d.,  and  the  scholars 
and  choristers  \d.  each. 

Besides  extending  the  boys'  quarters,  and,  we 
may  suppose,  enlarging  the  school,  Lupton  seems 
to  be  entitled  to  the  credit  of  another  most  im- 
portant innovation,  the  creation  of  Playing-fields, 
probably  the  first  and  certainly  the  best  and 
most  extensive  enjoyed  by  any  school.  Thanks 
to  the  latest  addition  of  the  magnificent  '  Agar's 
Plough,'  this  they  still  remain.  It  is  certain 
that  these  Playing-fields  have  had  no  little  share  in 
making  Eton  what  it  is.  Before  this  time  it  is 
probable,  as  will  be  shown  later  a  propos  of 


"  Maxwell  Lyte,  op.  cit.  105,  probably  through  a 
misprint,  says  21  Jan. 


'73 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


'  montem,'  that  the  boys  had  no  place  for  play 
in  college,  but,  like  Winchester,  marched  out 
two  and  two  to  the  nearest  hill,  Salt  Hill,  to 
play  there.  The  fellows  had  always  enjoyed  a 
garden,  but  the  boys  do  not  seem  to  have  had 
any  open  space.  In  1506—7  we  come  across 
for  the  first  time  a  mention  of  Playing-fields  by 
the  college,  4^.  being  paid  'for  clearing  the 
drain  in  the  boys'  fields '  (in  eampis  puerorum)  ; 
while  in  1510-11  a  shilling  was  paid  'for  a  pad- 
lock and  key  to  the  Playing-meadow  close '  (pro 
sera  pensili  et  clave  ad  clausuram  prati  lusorii). 
In  1514-15  they  appear  in  English  under  the 
name  which  they  retained  for  three  centuries, 
'  Playing-leas,'  a  term  which  is  of  course  much 
more  correct  than  the  modern  Playing-fields. 
The  '  clockeeper '  was  paid  '  for  tiling  theforica 
at  the  playing-leys.'  So  in  1523-4  a  shilling 
was  paid  to  John  Grome  (the  groom)  for  work- 
ing 'in  le  plaing  lees'  in  carrying  out  soil  for 
three  days.  Frequent  references  occur  after  this 
to  the  Playing-leas  or  Playing-leasowe,  which 
became  an  established  institution. 

Another  institution  which  is  perhaps  also  due 
to  Lupton,  at  all  events  it  makes  its  first  appear- 
ance in  his  time,  but  is  now  extinct,  though  it  has 
been  preserved  at  Westminster,  was  that  of  a 
yearly  play  at  Christmas. 

Throughout  the  history  of  the  college  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  theatricals  had  always 
taken  place  in  the  boy-bishop  ceremony  ;  while 
mummers  and  strolling  players  had  often  per- 
formed in  hall  at  Christmas  under  the  name  of 
minstrels  (ministrallii),  mimes  (mimis)y  and  actors 
(kistrioniius).  Thus  in  1482-3  is.  8d.  was 
paid  to  certain  mimes  dancing  (saltantibus)  before 
the  provost  and  fellows  on  2  January,  and  in 
1505  '  the  king's  players  received  '  2s.  But  in 
1519  we  find  George  the  tailor  receiving 
6s.  lod.  for  ornaments  for  the  play  (vestifici  pro 
ornamento  Jusorio),  and  in  1526—7  the  Informator 
is  paid  14.5.  'for  the  apparatus  of  the  players  at 
Christmas,'  and  a  regular  stock  of  clothes  appears 
to  have  been  kept  by  the  head  master  for  the 
purpose,  8s.  yd.  being  paid  him  '  for  repairs  of 
the  clothes  of  the  players'  in  1 531-2,"  and 
next  year  5*.  zd.  '  for  the  clothes  for  the  use  of 
the  players  on  Christmas  day,'  which  in  the 
paper  draft  account,  which  has  also  been  pre- 
served for  this  year,  appears  as  '  for  clothes  for 
the  use  of  the  plays'  (pro  vestibus  ad  usum 
ludicrorum).  We  shall  see  that  Nicholas  Udal 
took  a  troupe  of  boys  to  London  to  perform  a  play 
before  Thomas  Cromwell.  Even  in  the  Puritan 
days  of  Edward  VI  we  find  in  1549  '  8d.  for 
making  2  jerkins  for  players' ;  and  in  1551  '6 
lyncks  for  the  comedy  in  the  haull '  cost  2*.,  the 
comedy  or  Latin  play  being  no  doubt  presented 
by  the  head  master ;  while  6s.  8d.  was  paid  'to 
Mr.  Ussher  for  an  Interlude  that  was  played  in 


"  Audit  Bk.  2 1  &  22  Hen.  VIII.    The  head  master 
was  Richard  Cox. 


the  haull.'  For  in  the  statutes  of  Westminster 
School  it  was  provided  that  the  head  master 
should  present  a  Latin  and  the  usher  an  English 
play.  In  Elizabeth's  day  the  play  flourished. 
Then  in  1566-7  we  find  the  entry  :  '  Spent  at 
the  play  in  candles  10  Ib.  15^.,  tenter  hookes 
for  the  playe  [no  doubt  to  hang  the  curtains  on] 
i8d.,'  while  'Mr.  Scholmasters  charges  about 
the  playe  last  Christmas '  were  '  20*.'  A  hun- 
dred years  later,  1663-4,  we  find  :  'Given  to 
the  scholars  by  consent  for  acting  their  comedies 
last  year,  j£i.'  When  these  plays  ceased  to  be 
performed  does  not  appear.  In  the  1 8th  century 
plays  were  performed  in  Long  Chamber,  and 
also  by  oppidans,  but  were  surreptitious  and  un- 
authorized, if  not  illegal. 

Lupton  held  the  provostry  for  some  thirty  years. 
In  1527  he  founded77*  the  free  grammar  school 
of  Sedbergh,  his  native  place,  connecting  it  with  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  by  six  scholarships,  for 
which  j£6oo  was  given  to  the  college,  and  by  vest- 
ing in  the  college  the  appointment  of  the  master, 
adding  in  1537  another  ^400  for  two  fellowships 
and  two  more  scholarships.  The  school,  re- 
covered from  the  clutches  of  Edward  VI  through 
the  fiery  eloquence  of  Dr.  Thomas  Lever,  Presi- 
dent of  St.  John's,  and  re-endowed  with  the 
fragments  of  several  chantries,  attained  great  fame 
in  the  I7th  century,  and  is  now  again  so  pros- 
perous that  it  is  sometimes  called  the  Eton  of  the 
North. 

In  1531  Lupton,  as  provost,  had  to  carry  out 
an  exchange  with  Henry  VIII,  by  which  the 
college  gave  the  king  St.  James's  Hospital  in  the 
Field  with  185^  acres  belonging  to  it,  64  acres 
south  and  94  acres  north  of  the  high  road  from 
Charing  Cross  to  Eye  (?  Hay)  Hill,  and  1 2  acres 
at  Knightsbridge.  The  college  reserved  the 
outlying  lands  of  the  hospital  at  Hampstead,  the 
White  Bear  (Bere)  in  West  Cheap,  and  a  house 
in  Westminster.  The  grant  to  the  king  was 
made  on  24  December  1531.  Two  days  after 
they  received  in  exchange  the  manor  of  '  Bawd- 
wyns '  at  Dartford  in  Kent,  and  the  rectory  of 
Newington,  and  lands  at  Chattisham,  Suffolk, 
which  had  been  possessions  of  monasteries  sup- 
pressed by  Wolsey  and  given  to  his  college  at 
Ipswich.  So  that  once  again  Eton  was  endowed 
out  of  dissolved  monasteries.  The  transaction 
has  been  misrepresented  as  a  sort  of  robbery,  and 
a  rhyme,  '  Henricus  octavus  took  away  more  than 
he  gave  us,'  is  quoted  as  if  it  proved  the  case. 
The  rhyme,  however,  is  evidently  modern,  and 
only  one  of  the  usual  libels  on  Henry  VIII 
founded  on  ignorance  and  prejudice.  The  ex- 
change was  no  robbery.  The  immediate  result 
of  it  was  to  increase  the  income  of  the  college  by 
some  j£S5  a  year,  equivalent  to  at  least  £1,100 
a  year  to-day,  while  their  only  increased  expense 
was  for  the  rent  of  ^3  6s.  8d.  for  the  provost's 
house  near  Westminster.  Apparently  the  college 


77a  Leach,  Early  Torks.  Schools,  ii,  289-335. 


174 


SCHOOLS 


no  longer  used  the  hospital  as  a  provost's  residence  ; 
at  least  for  the  previous  fifteen  years  it,  or  a  great 
part  of  it,  had  been  let  to  Mr.  Peter  Carmeliano 
at  the  very  large  rent  of  £5  a  year,  and  after- 
wards to  Archdeacon  Magnus,  who  was  much 
employed  as  ambassador  to  Scotland.  They  got 
nothing  from  the  lands,  which  went  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  sisters  of  the  hospital.  A 
*  robbery '  was  in  a  sense  committed,  in  that 
Henry  VIII  suppressed  the  useless  leper  hospital  to 
turn  it  into  a  palace.  But  Eton  was  particefn  cri- 
minisy  as  it  now  derived  rents  from  the  lands  of  the 
hospital  which  had  previously  gone  to  support  its 
inmates.  The  college  paid  the  pension  to  one 
of  the  sisters,  Anne  or  Agnes,  but  as  that  was 
only  131.  \d.  a  year,  the  burden  was  not  great. 
At  that  time  no  one  could  anticipate  that  200 
years  afterwards  the  fields  round  the  leper  hospital 
would  become  valuable  building  land,  seeing  that 
even  when  Burlington  House  was  built  in  the 
1 8th  century  it  was  purposely  built  as  at  an 
ultima  Thule,  beyond  which  no  houses  could 
go.  Moreover,  as  both  the  Dartford  and  the 
Hampstead  land  are  now  selling  at  building 
prices  far  higher  than  those  which  would  have 
been  reached  by  a  sale  of  St.  James's  Street  a 
century  and  a  half  ago,  the  present  benefit  is 
greater  also. 

Lupton  resigned  the  provostry  of  Eton  in 
1535,  retaining  his  canonry  at  Windsor,  the 
rectories  of  Caistor,  Brancepeth,  Skipton,  Hazle- 
ton,  and  the  chapel  of  Ascot.  In  his  latter  days 
he  was  accused  to  Cromwell  of  divers  ecclesiastical 
and  moral  offences,  which  he  repudiated  with 
scorn  in  a  letter  of  29  January  1540:  'I  beg 
your  favour.  I  have  lived  83$  years  and  have 
been  taken  for  an  honest  man,  and  now  a  sort  of 
light  men  inform  you  to  the  contrary.  But  I 
will  be  reported  by  all  the  honest  men  of  Eton 
and  Windsor ' ;  and  again  on  3  February  :  '  How 
can  any  man  of  my  age  offend  in  that  thing  which 
is  laid  to  my  charge  ?  I  will  be  judged  by  any 
1 2  honest  persons  in  Windsor  and  Eton.'  On 
23  February  1540  he  made  his  will.  Besides 
his  obits  at  Eton  and  Sedbergh,  he  now  provided 
for  an  obit  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 
He  gave  £16  131.  \d, 

to  be  bestowed  in  ij  dinners  in  Eton  Hall,  one  at  the 
day  of  my  burial],  and  another  at  my  monthes  mind. 
To  buy  blacke  govvnes  for  20  poore  men  that  here 
torches  at  the  day  of  my  buriall,  £10.  Item  to  be 
distributed  to  Mr.  Provost  of  Eton,  the  masters  [i.e. 
fellows],  scholemaster,  preistes,  clerkes,  children  [i.e. 
scholars],  quiristers  [choristers],  officers  of  the  college 
and  children  of  the  town  at  my  day  of  buriall  and 
monethes  mynde  in  manner  and  forme  followinge, 
£19  1 6s.  SJ.  ;  first  to  the  Provost  the  day  of  my 
buryall  1 3/.  \d.  ;  item,  to  7  masters  and  the  scole- 
master  lot.  a  piece,  £4;  item  to  the  chaplcins  and 
usher  3/.  ^J.  a  piece,  3  j/.  4^.  ;  item  to  3  score  and 
10  children  of  the  colledge  and  quiristers,  i6</.  a  pcce, 
£4  1 3/.  tfd.  ;  item,  to  a  hundreth  children  of  the 
town,  %J.  a  pece,  £3  61.  %J. 


There  were  also  to  be  forty  '  straunge  preists ' 
to  sing  mass ;  and  '  to  poore  folkes  at  Eton  \d.  a 
pece,  j£io,'  so  that  there  were  fifty  of  them. 
Similar  gifts  of  half  the  amount  were  to  be  given 
at  his  month's  mind.  This  is  the  first  mention 
of  oppidans  in  the  English  form  of  '  children  of 
the  town,'  still  in  use  at  Westminster,  and  the 
first  indication  of  any  large  number  being  at 
Eton.  From  no  separate  mention  being  made  of 
'commoners*  in  college,  if  they  were  not  pur- 
posely ignored  on  account  of  their  rank  and  riches, 
it  follows  that  they  must  have  been  included  in 
the  100  'town  boys.' 

On  the  retirement  of  John  Smythe  at 
Michaelmas  1507  John  Goldyve,  Etonian  and 
Kingsman,  came  as  head  master.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  fetched  from  Oxford,  as 
Mr.  Arderne's  expenses  to  Oxford  to  inquire  for 
a  new  '  Preceptor '  were  31.  id. ;  and  Thomas 
the  butler  rode  there  with  letters  for  the  said 
'Preceptor,'  and  Mr.  'Gowldyffe*  himself  was 
paid  los.  for  coming  'for  the  said  office  of  Pre- 
ceptor.' He  retired  in  1510,  and  in  1521  is 
found,  like  his  predecessor  Bradbridge,  pre- 
bendary of  Highley  at  Chichester  and  master  of 
the  grammar  school  there.  Thomas  Philips, 
master  for  a  year  in  1510-11,  is  probably  the 
Thomas  Phylyppys  who  took  his  M.A.  degree  at 
Oxford  I  February  1508-9  and  afterwards  sup- 
plicated forhisB.C.L.  7  May  1524.  In  Thomas 
Erlysman,  who  was  fetched  from  Oxford  and 
received  101.  for  his  expenses  at  his  first  coming 
at  Michaelmas  1511,  Winchester  and  New 
College  again  furnished  a  head  master,  who,  like 
Clement  Smythe  and  Herman,  was  promoted  to 
the  head-mastership  of  Winchester,  viz.  at  Lady 
Day  1515,  where  he  stayed  for  ten  years. 
Robert  Colyar,  the  hostiarius  under  him,  gave 
place  at  Christmas  1512  to  George  Hals  or 
Hale,  who  also  was  sought  for  at  Oxford,  and 
had  a  competitor,  '  Sir '  Risby,  who  received  5*. 
for  coming  for  the  office  of  hostiarius.  After  a 
year  and  a  half  Hale  took  the  better-paid  post 
of  chantry  chaplain  of  Provost  Bost.  John 
Holonde  or  Holland  (King's  1506)  succeeded 
and  held  for  three  or  four  years.  But  Michael- 
mas 1520  found  Henry  Halked/8  head  of  the 
roll  to  King's  in  1513,  in  his  stead.  In  Feb- 
ruary 1521  he  was  followed  by  Thomas  Pery, 
an  Eton  scholar,  whose  name  is  preserved  as 
such,  because  he  was  ill  in  1514—15.  His  suc- 
cessor, Robert  Aldrich,  or  Aldryge,  as  he  is 
generally  spelt,  was  an  Etonian  and  Kingsman, 
on  the  roll  of  1507.  He  had  at  least  one  noble 
pupil  in  Richard  Lord  Grey  of  Ruthyn,  who  is 
commemorated  by  a  brass  in  Eton  Chapel. 
Aldrich  is  said  to  have  taught  '  according  to  the 
old  Winchester  system.'  This  is  likely  enough, 
but  the  passage  in  the  life  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith 
on  which  this  statement  is  based  refers,  not  to 

"  He  appears  in  Alumni  Eton,  as  Halhcad  and  Hal- 
stead. 


'75 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


Eton,  but  to  Saffron  Walden  School,  at  which 
Smith  is  said  to  have  been  educated.  Aldrich 
left  Eton  after  six  years'  teaching  to  go  on  an 
embassy  to  France  and  the  pope.  On  Lupton's 
resignation  in  1535  he  was,  in  compliance  with 
a  royal  mandate,  elected  provost,  the  first,  and, 
for  almost  exactly  200  years,  the  only  Etonian 
and  Kingsman  to  become  provost.  Next  year 
he  was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of  Carlisle, 
which  he  held  with  the  provostry  in  breach  of 
all  custom,  consecration  to  a  bishopric  vacating 
all  other  preferment.  He  was  also  almoner  to 
Queen  Jane  (Seymour),  and  when  she  died 
solemnly  received  her  body  on  its  passage  through 
Eton  to  Windsor.  He  was  succeeded  as  master 
at  Lady  Day  1521  by  yet  another  Wykehamist, 
Thomas  White,  scholar  of  Winchester  1508,  of 
New  College  1513  to  1520.  The  identity  is 
made  sure,  in  spite  of  the  commonness  of  the 
name,  by  the  protocol  at  New  College,  which 
states  that  his  successor  was  appointed  in  place 
of  him  '  promoti  ad  informandum  pueros  Etone,' 
while  Robert  Walker's  costs  in  riding  to  Oxford 
with  letters  for  him  were  2s.  id.  John  Gold- 
wyn79  succeeded  White  at  Lady  Day  1525. 
His  provenance  has  not  been  traced.  As  usher 
he  had  John  Barons,  who,  having  come  in 
February  1524,  stayed  no  less  than  four  and  a 
.  half  years,  to  Midsummer  1528.  Goldwyn 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  had  his  time- 
table preserved,  thus  furnishing  the  first  authentic 
information  of  the  Eton  curriculum.  A  free 
grammar  school  had  been  maintained  at  Cuck- 
field  in  Sussex  from  about  1504  by  Edmund 
Flower,  citizen  and  merchant  tailor  of  London, 
which  in  1521  he  endowed  by  his  will.  The 
endowment,  being  worth  only  some  ,£6  ids.  a 
year,  was  augmented  by  William  Spicer,  rector 
of  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Balcombe,  with  a 
new  endowment,  producing  another  £5  a  year, 
and  settled  by  a  deed  of  i  October  1528.  This 
provided  that  the  schoolmaster  'shall  teach  the 
scholars  in  the  said  school  grammar  after  the 
form,  order,  and  usage  taught  in  the  Grammar 
School  at  Eton  near  Windsor,  from  form  to 
form,  according  to  the  acts  and  rules  there  made, 
kept,  and  used,  and  to  keep  the  houres  of  learn- 
ing in  the  said  school.'  Annexed  to  the  deed 
was  the  oath  of  the  master  in  seven  items,  the 
last  binding  him  to  teach  '  after  the  form  and 
usage  taught  in  the  Grammar  School  of  Eton, 
the  which  form  for  this  time  is  as  it  followeth.' 
The  '  Form  ' 80  is  fortunately  preserved  at  Cuck- 

79  Maxwell   Lyte,   op.   cit.    105,   quoting   Strype's 
Life  of  Sir  T.  Smith,  6. 

80  Though  printed  in  Carlisle's  End.  Gram.  Schools 
(ii,  594)  in  1818,  it  has  escaped  the  notice  of  all  the 
Eton  historians,  as  the  first   authentic  curriculum  of 
Eton.     Carlisle's  copy  contains  several  mistakes  of  his 
own  in  addition  to  those  in  the  Vicar's  Book.     They 
are  corrected  in  the  abstract  now  given.     Cf.  V.C.H. 
Suss,  ii,  417. 


field,  though  only  in  a  copy,  in  '  the  Vicar's 
Book,'  an  MS.  written  about  1626  ;  it  contains 
some  evident  mistakes  arising  from  misreading 
of  the  originals.  The  mere  fact  that  a  tailor 
and  a  parson  could  endow  a  school  to  be  carried 
on  like  Eton  shows  how  little  at  this  time  the 
great  and  famous  '  Public '  schools  differed  from 
other  grammar  schools,  to  which  the  local  gentry 
flocked,  and  where  they  enjoyed  the  same  kind 
of  teaching  as  the  great  schools  and  sometimes 
perhaps  better  teachers. 

The  '  Form '  shows  that  there  were  six  Forms, 
and  below  Form  I  '  the  children  first  beginning 
the  grammar.'  These  last  were  to  '  read  the 
accidence  of  Mr.  Stanbridge,'  a  famous  Wyke- 
hamist, first  usher  of  Magdalen  College  School 
and  afterwards  master  of  Banbury  School,  which 
Bishop  Oldham  in  1515  made  the  model  for 
Manchester  Grammar  School.  After  many 
centuries  Stanbridge's  grammar  had  superseded 
'  Old  Donatus.'  In  this  the  boys  were  to  be 
'  diligently  exercised  every  working-day  and 
upon  .  .  .  Saturday  in  the  morning  every  one 
of  them  rehearse  and  render  by  heart  all  the 
lessons  they  have  learned  all  the  week  before, 
and  if  Saturday  be  holyday,  then  the  said  render 
be  made  the  working  day  before.' 

It  is  ordained  also  that  every  working-day,  Friday 
and  Saturday  except,  one  of  the  8  parts  of  Reason 
[i.e.  parts  of  speech],  with  the  verb  according  to  the 
same,  that  is  to  say,  Nomen  with  Amo,  Pronomen 
with  Amor,  and  so  forth,  be  said  by  heart  by  all  the 
learners  of  the  accidence,  if  they  have  learnt  that  part, 
and  of  all  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  Forms. 

This  -was  to  be  '  by  and  by  after  6  of  the  clock ' 
in  summer  and  7  in  winter.  '  After  the  part 
done  the  learners  of  the  accidence  shall  labour 
their  lessons,  which  lesson  the  Master  shall  hear 
more  often  or  more  seldom  after  his  discretion 
and  to  the  more  profit  of  the  scholars.' 

Form  I  were  to  learn  Stanbridge's  English 
Rules  called  the  '  Parvula.' 

These  rules  shall  be  said  by  and  by  after  the  Part 
done,  and  upon  repeating  the  rules  the  Master  shall 
cause  them  to  make  small  and  easy  Latins,  proper  and 
such  as  the  children  may  understand  and  have  a 
delight  in. 

Form  II  the  same,  '  except  that  the  Master  may 
by  his  discretion  add  more  matter  to  the  Latin 
for  the  Second  Form.' 

These  Latins  must  be  so  given  that  the  children 
may  write81  them  before  breakfast.  After  their 
breakfast  one  of  the  next  Form  above,  by  the  Master's 
assigning,  shall  read  to  them  one  Rule  for  the  next 
day  and  in  the  Master's  presence  ;  upon  which  the 
scholars  of  this  Form  shall  apply  themselves  to  the 
understanding  construing  saying  and  answering  to  the 
parts  of  their  Latins  unto  the  dinner-hour  fn  a.m.]. 

If  the  Master's  discretion  shall  think  the  babies 
able  easily  to  overcome  it,  he  may  give  them  also. 


I76 


81  Not  as  in  Carlisle,  End.  Gram.  Schools,  '  recite.' 


SCHOOLS 


*ome  Latin  words  from  Stanbridge's  Collection,  or 
small  and  light  matter  in  Latin  to  be  rendered  by  the 
Babies  by  and  by  after  one  of  the  clock  ;  which  done, 
after  a  convenient  pause,  the  said  babies  shall  render 
their  Latins  by  heart,  construe  them  and  answer  to 
the  part  of  them. 

This  applied  to  the  first  four  days  of  the 
week.  On  Friday  they  were  to  say  Sum,  a,fui, 
or  some  other  verb  out  of  the  rules.  Then  they 
were  to  be  examined  in  the  understanding  of  the 
rules  learnt  in  the  week  and  say  them  by  heart 
in  the  afternoon. 

If  the  Master"  have  time  sufficient  before  the  time 
of  breakfast  the  Master,  or  some  Scholar  of  an  higher 
form  in  the  presence  of  the  Master,  shall  declare  to 
them  one  little  piece  of  the  Pater  Noster,  or  the  Ave 
M.iri.i,  the  Credo  or  the  Treatise  of  the  Manners 
called  a  Quos  decet  in  mensa,  or  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, the  Seven  Deadly  Sins,  or  the  Five  Witts,*4  or 
some  other  proper  saying  in  Latin  meet  for  the 
Babies,  and  especially  such  as  is  meet  for  Christian 
People  to  learn,  as  the  Articles  of  Our  Belief  or  any- 
thing like. 

On  Saturday  before  breakfast  Form  I  'ren- 
dered '  their  '  one  little  piece '  of  religious  in- 
struction, '  construed  it  and  answered  to  parts  of 
it.'  After  breakfast  they  rendered  their  Latins 
learnt  in  the  week.  '  At  afternoon  they  shall 
learn  to  write  or  read  Legends,  or  the  Psalter, 
to  become  more  prompt  in  reading.'  Not,  be 
it  observed,  for  the  sake  of 'religious  instruction, 
but  for  the  enunciation. 

In  the  second  form  the  scholars  shall  read  the 
genders'*  of  Whittington  and  after  them  done  the 
Heteroclites  of  Whittington.  These  rules  shall  be 
said  in  the  morning  and  by  and  by  one  lesson  shall 
be  read  unto  them  for  next  day  and  they  shall  learn 
Latins  with  the  Pint  Form.  After  their  breakfast  a 
lecture  of  Cato  after  the  new  interpretation  shall  be 
read  unto  them,  which  they  shall  construe  again  at 
afternoon  and  answer  to  the  parts  of  it,  which  done 
they  shall  say  their  Latins  by  heart,  construe  them 
and  parse  them.  Upon  Friday  after  breakfast  they 
shall  render  their  rules  ;  and  at  afternoon  .  .  .  their 
constructions.  On  Saturday  they  shall  say  and  render 
all  things  with  the  first  form. 

In  the  third  form  the  rules  shall  be  the  Preter- 
tenses*  and  Supines  of  Whittington,  and  after  these 
done  the  Defectives  of  the  said  Whittington.  They 
shall  have  Latins.  Their  constructions  shall  be  of 
Terence  or  of  Erasmus's  Similitudes  or  of  his  familiar 
communication  called  Colloquia  Erasmi. 

In  the  Fourth  form  they  shall  have  for  their  Rules 
the  Regiments  of  Whittington  which  he  calleth  Con- 

"'  Not  as  in  Carlisle,  '  If  they  may  have  sufficient 
time  before  breakfast.' 

*  Not  as  in  Carlisle,  '  verses  for  the  Mariners, 
called  Quos  dicet  in  mensa.' 

**  i.e.  the  five  senses. 

"  Not  as  in  Carlisle,  '  gradus.' 

M  Sic.  It  was  no  doubt  Preterites  in  the  original, 
but  the  copyist  of  1626  could  not  read  the  writing 
of  i  oo  yean  before. 


cinnitates  Grammatices.  They  shall  have  Latin 
constructions  and  other  things  except  rules  with  the 
third  form  to  the  intent  that  the  better  learned  may 
instruct  the  less  learned. 

In  the  Fifth  Form  they  shall  read  the  Versifying 
Rules.  They  shall  have  w  or  Ovid's  Epistles. 

In  the  stead  of  Latins  they  shall  construe  Virgil, 
Sallust  or  Horace  or  any  other  meet  for  them  ;  and 
for  their  better  exercise  they  shall  male  every  week 
verses  and  epistles. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  latest  thing  in  classical 
schools  to-day  is  to  return  to  this  practice  of 
remitting  verse-making  and  original  Latin  prose 
to  Form  V.  Form  VI  'have  for  their  rules 
Copiam  Erasmi,'  i.e.  Erasmus's  book  on  copious- 
ness of  diction,  '  wherein  it  is  taught  to  make 
88  ;  all  other  things  they  shall  read  with  the 
Fifth  Form.' 

In  every  Form 

the  Rules  shall  be  said  in  the  morning,  and  by  and  by 
more  rules  given  unto  them  ;  after  9  of  the  clock 
the  constructions  shall  be  given  them  ;  after  I  of  the 
clock  the  constructions  shall  be  heard  ;  about  3  of 
the  clock  the  Latin  shall  be  rendered. 

The  master  may  begin  to  hear  the  First  Form  if  it 
pleaseth  him,  so  that  the  tender  babes  and  young 
scholars  be  not  forslowed,**  but  ever  taught  plainly 
and  substantially,  soberly  and  discreetly  entreated, 
and  handled  without  rigour  or  hastiness  in  deed  word 
and  countenance.  The  Master  also  must  attend 
that  his  scholars  keep  a  due  and  whole  pronunciation 
of  their  words  without  precipitation,  and  that  they 
speak  Latin  in  every  place. 

Considering  the  way  that  pronunciation  and 
enunciation  are  now  almost  wholly  neglected  in 
schools,  which  to  make  up  for  the  neglect  have 
to  start  Debating  Societies  and  Shakespeare 
Readings,  and  these  only  attended  by  a  select 
few,  it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  we  have  not 
something  to  learn  in  the  way  of  school  teach- 
ing from  the  much  decried  scholars  of  pro- 
Reformation  times. 

Next  comes  the  usual  fulmination  against 
holidays  : 

The  Scholars  shall  have  no  Remedy  but  once  a  week, 
and  that  shall  never  be  on  the  Friday  ;  and  also  after 
2  of  the  clock,  because  they  may  render  most  of  their 
learning,  or  they  depart  the  school,  without*0  the 
assent  of  one  of  the  Controlers. 

The  word  '  remedy,'  rtmtdium  laboris,  for  holi- 
day is  now  confined  to  Winchester. 

Lastly,  to  show  that  the  imitation  of  Eton 

"  This  blank  is  a  proof  that  the  copyist  of  1626 
could  not  read  the  older  writing  properly. 

*  Again  the  copyist  could  not  read  the  old  writing. 

*  Si(.     Not  as  in  Carlisle,  '  forestowed.'     But  it  is 
possible   that   the  17th-century   copyist  has  misread 
the  word,  as  '  forslowed  '  does  not  seem  to  have  much 
more  meaning  than  '  forestowed.' 

*  Not  as  in  Carlisle,  '  with.' 


»77 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


was  not  to  be  a  mere  demonstration  at  starting, 
it  was  provided 

That  these  acts  and  orders  do  continue  until  such 
time  as  the  Controlers  be  notified  of  others  being 
taught  in  Eton  more  profitable  to  scholars  ;  then  it 
is  lawful  to  the  Controlers  to  add  to  the  forms  that 
be  more  profitable  and  to  leave  what  are  not  profit- 
able at  their  discretion. 

In  1529"  came  Richard  Cox,  the  fourth 
Etonian  and  Kingsman  to  become  master. 
Born  at  Whaddon,  Buckinghamshire,92  he  went 
from  Eton  to  King's  in  1519,  taking  his  B.A. 
degree  1523-4.  Wolsey  made  him  a  junior 
canon  of  his  new  Cardinal  College  at  Oxford, 
so  he  took  his  M.A.  degree  there,  2  July  1526. 
He  first  appears  in  the  Eton  audit  book  as 
Informator  for  the  year  beginning  Michaelmas 
1529,  with  Edmund  Janson  or  Jonson,  a  Win- 
chester and  New  College  man,  who  had  come 
a  term  before,  as  Hostiarius  ;  and  he  continued 
there  till  1535.  The  ushers  under  him  after 
Jonson  were  William  Pury  or  Pery,  Michaelmas 
1532  to  Midsummer  1533  ;  and  William  Bag- 
ley,  who  had  gone  to  King's  in  1527,  from 
Midsummer  1533.  On  retirement  from  the 
mastership  Cox  returned  to  Cambridge,  and  took 
his  B.D.  degree  in  1535, and  his  D.D.  in  1537. 
On  24  November  1540,  he  was  made  Arch- 
deacon of  Ely  on  the  king's  appointment.  He 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  for  making  statutes 
for  the  cathedrals  of  the  new  foundation  estab- 
lished by  Henry  VIII,  on  the  dissolution  of  the 
monastic  chapters  and  monasteries,  and  was  him- 
self made  a  canon  on  the  new  foundation  of 
Ely.  He  was  designated  Bishop  of  Southwell 
when  that  collegiate  church  was  intended  to  be 
converted  into  a  cathedral  ;  but  the  execution  of 
the  intention  was  deferred  for  335  years.  On 
8  January  1543-4  he  became  dean  of  the  new 
Oxford  cathedral  at  Oseney,  and,  when  it  was 
abolished,  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  which  he 
scandalized  by  introducing  a  wife.  He  was 
tutor  and  then  almoner  to  Edward  VI,  first  as 
prince  then  as  king  ;  Canon  of  Windsor  1548  ; 
Dean  of  Westminster  1549.  On  Mary's  in- 
coming he  was  sent  to  the  Tower  for  treason, 
but  let  out,  though  deprived  of  all  his  prefer- 
ments. He  fled  to  Frankfort.  On  Elizabeth's 
accession  he  returned  to  become  Bishop  of  Ely 
29  July  1559,  took  an  active  part  in  the  con- 
troversies of  the  reign,  and  died  22  July  1581. 
That  he  was  a  good  Latin  verse  writer  is  shown 
by  his  correspondence  with  Walter  Haddon,  his 
pupil  at  Eton  (on  the  roll  for  King's  1533),  who 
had  written  from  his  sick  bed  : — 

Vix  caput  attollens  e  lecto  scribere  carmen 
Qui  vult,  is  voluit  scribere  plura.     Vale. 

"  Not  1528,  as  Maxwell  Lyte. 

"  In  Cooper,  Athen.  Cant.,  he  is  absurdly  guessed 
to  have  '  had  his  first  education  in  the  small  Benedic- 
tine Priory  of  St.  Leonard  Snelshall,  Whaddon,'  as  if 
Benedictine  priories  taught  outsiders. 


Dr.  Cox  to  Walter  Haddon  his  scholar  : — 

Te  magis  optarem  salvum  sine  carmine,  fill, 
Quam  sine  te  salvo  carmina  multa.    Vale. 

By  a  fortunate  accident  a  curriculum  of  Eton 
during  Cox's  term  of  office  has  been  preserved  in 
the  town  records  of  Saffron  Walden,  in  Essex. 
There  had  long  been  a  grammar  school  there, 
the  monoply  of  which  was  asserted  in  I423-93 
By  deed  3  December  1517,  John  Leche,  vicar 
of  that  place,  possibly  the  Winchester  scholar  of 
that  name  in  1445,  endowed  the  Trinity  Gild, 
which  he  had  assisted  to  found  three  years  before, 
'with  land  for  a  priest  so  that'  when  the  gild 
'  be  abill  to  make  the  seid  service  worth  £  i  o  a 
year  .  .  .  the  seid  preest  shalbe  a  profound 
gramarion,  to  thintent  that  he  may  teche  gramar 
within  the  towne  of  Waldeyn,  after  the  rourme 
of  the  scole  of  Winchester  or  of  Eton.'  The 
endowment  did  rot  take  effect  till  his  sister, 
Dame  Jane  Bradbury,  by  deed  of  18  May  1525, 
gave  further  endowment,  and  appointed  William 
Dawson,  clerk,  'approvyd  as  an  able  syngyng 
man  and  a  profound  gramarion,  accordyng  to 
the  mynd  of  Master  Leche '  with  proviso  that 
every  future  master  should  be  'a  suffycyent 
grammarion  to  tech  chyldren  grammer  after  the 
order  and  use  of  techyng  grammer  in  the 
scolys  of  Wynchester  and  Eton.' 

To  ensure  this  someone  at  Walden  obtained 
from  the  head  masters  of  Winchester  and  Eton 
copies  of  their  '  Order  and  Use,'  and  they  were 
solemnly  entered  in  the  Mayor's  book.  They 
were  printed  by  Thomas  Wright,  the  celebrated 
antiquary,94  in  1853,  as  '  Rules  of  the  Free  School 
of  Saffron  Walden,'  and  even  Sir  Henry  Max- 
well Lyte  quotes  them  95  as  made  for  that  school 
'  when  Richard  Cox  an  Etonian  was  master.' 
But  it  is  clear  that  Cox  was  never  master  there, 
but  being  master  at  Eton  in  1530  he  furnished 
Dawson  with  a  copy  of  the  Eton  '  use.'  As  the 
document  is  of  the  first  importance  in  the  history 
of  English  education,  it  is  now  given  in  full,  as 
corrected  from  the  original. 

THIS  vs  THE  ORDER  OF  THE  SAME  SCHOLE  USYD  BY 
ME  RICHARD  Cox,  SCHOLEMASTER. 

They  come  to  schole  at  vj  of  the  Clok  in  ye  morn- 
yng  &  they  say  Deus  misereatur  with  a  Colecte  ;  at 
ix  they  say  De  profundis  &  go  to  brekefaste.  With 

*  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Rep.  viii,  App.  281. 

M  Arch,  xxxiv,  37. 

95  Hist.  Eton  Coll.  (and  ed.  1899),  147.  Thanks 
to  Mr.  Bryan  Ackland,  who  enabled  me  to  see  the 
original,  it  was  shown  apropos  of  the  Winchester 
'  order '  that  Richard  Cox  and  John  Twichencr,  mis- 
printed Twithen  by  Wright,  were  the  masters  of  Eton 
and  Winchester  respectively,  who  furnished  the  orders 
of  their  schools  to  Walden  as  model  in  1530  ;  V.C.H. 
Hants,  ii,  298  ;  and  V.C.H.  Essex,  ii,  21.  In 
Etonlana,  May  1907,  a  correct  description  of  the 
document  is  given,  but  the  document  itself  is  repro- 
duced with  all  its  mistakes  from  Archaeologia. 


I78 


SCHOOLS 


in  a  quarter  of  an  howre  cum  ageyne  &  tary  .  .  .  xi 
&  then  to  dyner,  at  T  to  toper  afore  an  An  theme  & 
De  profundis. 

Two  Prepositores  in  every  forme,  whiche  doth 
give  in  a  ichrowe  the  absents  namys  .it  any  lecture  & 
shewith  when  &  at  what  tyme,  both  in  the  fore  none 
for  the  tyme  paste,  &  at  v. 

Also  ij  Prepositon  in  the  body  of  the  Chirche, 
ij  in  the  qwere,  flbr  tpekyng  of  Laten  in  the  thrcd 
forme  &  all  other,  every  one  a  custos,  &  in  every 
howse  a  monytor. 

Whan  they  go  home  ij.  and  ij.  in  order,  a  monitor 
to  se  that  they  do  toe  tyll  they  come  at  there  hostise 
dore. 

Also  prevy  monyton  how  many  the  Mr  wylle. 

Prepositores  in  the  feld  whan  they  play,  for  fyght- 
yng,  rent  clothes,  blew  eyes,  or  siche  like. 

Prepositores  for  yll  kept  hedys,  unwasshid  facys, 
fbwle  clothis  &  sich  other. 

YfF  there  be  iiij  or  v  in  a  howse,  monytors  for 
chydyngand  for  Latyn  ipekyng. 

When  any  dothe  come  newe,  the  master  doth  inqre 
fro  when*  he  comyth,  what  frendys  he  hathe  whether 
there  be  any  plage.  No  man  gothe  owte  off  the 
schole,  nother  home  to  his  frends  with  owt  the 
masters  lycense.  YfF  there  be  any  dullard  the  Mr 
gyvith  his  frends  warnyng  and  puttyth  hjrm  away  that 
he  sclander  not  the  Schole. 

By  me,  Richard  Cox,  Scholcm'. 


As  regards  the  curriculum  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  when  once  change  began  in  the 
schools  it  continued.  Stanbridge's  Accidence  and 
Parvula  still  reigned  in  the  lower  forms.  But, 
in  the  short  interval  which  had  elapsed  since  the 
Eton  use  was  furnished  to  Cuckfteld  in  1524, 
for  the  higher  grammar  Whittington's  gram- 
mar, in  consequence  perhaps  of  his  quarrel  with 
Horman,  who  was  still  a  fellow  and  vice-provost 
of  Eton,  had  been  deposed  in  favour  of  Lily's 
grammar,  which,  afterwards  as  '  the  king's 
grammar '  and  the  '  Eton  Latin  Grammar ' 
reigned  as  despotically  in  English  schools  as 
Donatus  had  done,  with  almost  the  authority  of 
verbal  inspiration,  until  1850.  The  pseudo- 
Cato's  Maralta  was  still  the  first  Latin  Book. 
Terence,  Ovid,  Virgil,  Sallust,  Horace,  Cicero, 
were  still  the  only  books  read  by  the  higher 
forms.  As  the  boys  still  began  rchool  with  Deut 
misereatur,  sang  De  profundit  before  breakfast,  and 
sang  it  again  with  an  anthem  at  5  p.m.,  we  can 
hardly  say  that  the  omission  in  the  'use*  of  any 
reference  to  the  Ave  Maria  and  the  Seven 
Deadly  Sins  mentioned  in  the  Cuckfield  '  Form  ' 
is  due  to  the  spirit  of  Reformation.  But  the 
introduction  of  the  Dutch  Despauterius  and  the 
German  Mosellanus  points  to  the  re-importation 


— 

Mondays 

Tewyadaye 

Wedenytdaye 

Thuridayt 

Frydaye 

Saterdaye 

The  ffyrat  forme 

Parte  of  Sunbrid 
ge  accidence  ere 
Tf  mornjrng  with 
the  Second,  thri 
d  ic  fowrth  forme 

Idem 

Idem 

Idem 

Quoi  decet  in 
menu  at  the 
after  none  Sc  ren 
deryng  of 
Rulei 

Quoi  decet 
in  Mrnia  at  the  after 
none  Render 
Litynyi 

Inititutionei  pinrulorum  Voca 
hula.     And  aUo  Latynea 

The  Seconde  forme 

ftabulae  Aeiopi, 
Genera  Lilii 

Idem 

Idem 

Idem 

Cato  |  at  the 
after  none 

Cato  and 
at  the  after 

Latynya  fewer 
tymya  in  the  wcke 

Render  rnlyi 

none  render  Litynyi  and 
Vulgarea 

The  thrid  fforme 

Terence 
Preterita  Lilii 

Idem 

Idem 

Idem 

Moit  proper  Hymmyi 
And  at  the  after 

Propereit  hymya 
And  at  the 

Latynya 

none  rendre  rulyi 

after  none  ren> 
der  Litynyi 
And  Vulgart 

The  foorthe  forme 

Terentiut, 
Octo  partea  Lilii 
Latynt  (wiet 
every  weke 

Idem 

Idem 

Idem                    , 

Vergilii  buccolica 
in  the  mornyng 
at  the  after  none 
render  rulyi 

Vergilii  hue 
olica  at  after 
none  rendre 
Litynyi  It  Vulgara 

The  fyflhe  forme 

Wrytyng  of  a 
theme,  Silui 
tiut,  Vtnifyeng 
rulyi  drawne 
owte  of  dei  pan 
teriui  other  modui  conic 

The  lame 
lave  they 
make  veriei 

The  lame 
uve  they  make 
nothyng 

Epiitole  tullii 
makyng  of  epittlei 
beiide 
Saluitiui 

Vergilii  Eneia 
in  the  mornyng 
at  the  after  none 
rendering  of  rulci 
lerayd  the  hole 
weke 

Vergilii  Eneia 
repetyng  of  Latyna 
&  Vulgan  Icrnyd 
that  weke 

ribendi  epii 
toln 

The  ayite  (Forme 
*  the 
Sevenihc  forme 

Horatiui  or 
tnlliua, 
moaellanyi  figure*  or  Copia 
renim  et  Terborum 
of  Eraamui 

All  lyke  Monday 
lave  they  make 
ver«ei 

Like  ai 
afore 
aave  they 
make  nothyog 

Epiitole 
Tullii 
Making  of 
Eplli 
beiid« 

Vergilii  Eneia 
in  the  mornyng 
At  the  after  none 

rendryng  of  rulci 
lernid  the  hole 

Vergilii  Eneia 
repetyng  of 
Latyni  A  Vulgara 
lernyd  all  ye 
wek« 

Horatiui 

weke 

Every  quarter  one  fortenyght  every  forme  rendryth  all  thyngi  lernyd  that  quarter 

179 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


of  Lollardism  in  the  form  of  Lutheranism,  which 
had  already  undermined  Romanism  in  England. 
Despauterius,  or  Despautier,  calls  himself  Nini- 
vita,  and  was  master  of  the  school  of  St.  Ginnocus 
at  Bergis  or  Bergen-op-Zoom  ;  he  published  the 
first  edition  of  his  An  Ephtollca  at  Argentora 
(i.e.  Strasburg)  in  1512,  and  a  second  at  Antwerp 
in  1529.  The  over-refining  classification  of  the 
schoolmen  still  prevails  in  it,  letters  being  divided 
into  three  classes — the  descriptive,  the  political, 
and  the  familiar ;  while  each  letter  is  made  to 
comprise  a  salutation,  a  statement,  a  petition,  and 
a  valediction,  as  if  all  letters  were  begging 
letters.  Mosellanus,  so  called  because  born  on 
the  Moselle,  was  Peter  Schade,  a  schoolmaster  of 
Leipzig.  His  Paedologia,  Latin  dialogues  be- 
tween schoolboys  and  students  on  their  work, 
their  play,  their  poverty,  and  their  religion,  was 
written  when,  though  only  twenty-five  years  old, 
he  had  already  been  master  of  the  school  for 
eight  years.  They  are  extremely  entertaining, 
and  though  only  published  in  1521,  three  years 
after  Luther's  theses,  scoff  at  such  ceremonials  as 
that  of  Candlemas  Day  and  the  boy-bishop.  On 
the  former  Valerius  asks  Nicholas  :  '  Why  have 
you  not  a  candle  ? '  To  which  Nicholas  an- 
swers :  '  How  could  I,  when  I  have  not  enough 
money  to  buy  food  ?  If  I  were  at  home  my 
mother  would  have  bought  me  these  baubles 
soon  enough  ! '  Valerius  :  '  How  dare  you 
laugh  at  sacred  things  ? '  Nicholas  :  '  Why 
not  ?  I  shall  not  be  a  heretic  even  if  I  don't 
carry  a  candle  ...  it  would  be  more  pleasing 
to  Christ  if  the  money  wasted  on  candles  were 
spent  on  poor  relief.'  As  to  the  boy-bishop, 
'  What's  the  good  of  it ' — says  one  boy  ;  '  Why 
none,  except  that  you  get  an  uncommonly  good 
dinner,'  replies  the  other.  Mosellanus's  Flgurae 
are  terribly  detailed  excursuses  on  the  figures  of 
speech  written  in  Latin  hexameters.  The  book 
begins : — 

'  Arte  novata  aliqua  dicendi  forma  figura  est. 
Sunt  ejus  species  metaplasmus,  schema,  tro- 

pusque  ; 
Schemata  dant  species  tibi  lexeos  et  dianeas.' 

Mosellanus  goes  on  to  express  scorn  for  his  pre- 
decessors who  sacrificed  metre  to  sense,  but  as  he 
only  avoided  the  fault  by  interlarding  his  dis- 
course with  Romanized  Grecisms,  of  which, 
being  a  novelty,  he  was  excessively  proud,  the 
learner  might  perhaps  think  that  in  the  new 
writer  he  had  fallen  out  of  the  frying  pan  into 
the  fire.  The  use  of  the  words  schema,  lexeos, 
and  dianeas  shows  how  Greek  had  already  made 
its  way  in  schools.  It  may  be  noted  that  Mosel- 
lanus's predecessor,  as  teacher  of  Greek  at  Leipzig, 
was  an  Englishman  and  an  Etonian,  Richard 
Crook. 

The  Quos  decet  in  mensa,  out  of  which  the 
boys  learnt  at  the  same  time  manners,  morals, 
and  verse,  was  the  work  of  Sulpicius,  a  grammar 


schoolmaster  at  Rome  in  the  1 5th  century.  It 
got  its  name  from  its  beginning  : — 

'  Quos  decet  in  mensa  mores  servare  docemus, 
Virtuti  ut  studeas  litterulisque  simul.' 

Good  manners  for  the  table  here  we  tell, 
To  make  our  scholars  gentlemen  as  well. 

In  elegant  elegiacs  are  set  out  all  the  good  old 
nursery  rules  as  to  behaviour.  Before  meals  you 
are  to  wash  your  hands  and  face  and  clean  your 
teeth.  At  meals  do  not  rush  to  your  place  ; 
when  you  cough,  spit  or  blow  your  nose,  turn 
your  head  away.  Don't  put  your  elbows  on  the 
table,  don't  champ  your  jaws  when  eating,  don't 
take  large  mouthfuls,  don't  bite  your  bread  but 
cut  it,  don't  gnaw  your  bones.  Remember  that 
you  eat  to  live  and  do  not  live  to  eat  ('  Esse 
decet  vivas,  vivere  non  ut  edas ').  Did  Sulpicius 
invent  this  famous  epigram  ?  In  drinking,  only 
lift  the  cup  with  one  hand,  unless  it  is  of  the 
kind  that  Theseus  or  Bel  used  to  hurl  at  an 
enemy  ;  don't  look  over  it  while  you  drink,  don't 
swallow  too  fast,  or  drain  the  pot,  or  whistle  in 
drinking.  Wipe  the  cup.  When  you  leave  the 
table,  bend  your  knee,  join  your  hands  and  say 
' Prosit'  for  grace.  There  are  other  com- 
monplaces of  the  manners  that  make  man. 
There  was  nothing  new  in  all  this  except  the 
setting.  It  is  found  in  Facetus,  a  pseudonym  of 
Johannes  de  Garlandia,  a  13th-century  writer  of 
a  Latin-English  vocabulary  and  a  treatise  on 
manners,  a  copy  of  which  was  presented  by  Wil- 
liam of  Wykeham  to  Winchester  College.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  an  Englishman,  and  his  book 
was  frequently  printed  in  England  from  1500 
onwards.  No  doubt  it,  too,  descended  from 
immemorial  antiquity. 

Not  the  least  interesting  part  of  Richard  Cox's 
memorandum  is  that  setting  out  the  disciplinary 
and  domestic  arrangements.  Herman's  Bulgaria 
showed  that  the  prefect  system,  the  system  of 
self-government  of  boys  by  boys  was  in  full 
operation,  the  prefects  being  called  prepostors. 
There  were  two  school  prepostors  ;  four  prepos- 
tors of  chapel,  two  in  the  choir,  two  in  the  body 
of  the  church  ;  prepostors  in  the  playing-fields, 
to  put  down  fighting,  tearing  of  clothes  and 
giving  of  blue,  or,  as  we  say,  black  eyes  ;  prepos- 
tors to  look  after  dirty  boys.  Then  there  were 
two  prepostors  in  each  form  to  give  in  a  scroll  of 
those  absent,  and  a  custos  in  every  form  above 
the  third  to  see  that  they  talked  nothing  but 
Latin.  There  were  separate  houses,  dames  or 
'  hostise's '  houses,  to  which  the  boys  had  to 
march  two  and  two  under  a  monitor  ;  and  in 
every  house  having  more  than  four  or  five  in  it, 
a  monitor  to  stop  chiding  or  wrangling  and  to 
enforce  talking  Latin.  Finally  there  were  '  privy 
monitors,'  a  sort  of  delators  or  spies,  a  most  un- 
pleasing  institution  in  mediaeval  schools,  much 
attacked  in  Mosellanus's  dialogues,  to  report  secretly 
misbehaviour  to  the  master.  It  would  appear 


180 


SCHOOLS 


that  the  prepostors  were  not  themselves  to  keep 
order  or  punish  so  much  as  to  report  delinquents 
to  the  master.  That  the  reports  were  not  with- 
out results  we  may  gather  from  the  character 
given  of  Cox  by  Walter  Haddon,  already  men- 
tioned," in  the  conversation  on  flogging  in 
schools  reported  by  Roger  Ascham,  which  was 
the  occasion  of  his  Scholemaster.  The  Secretary 
of  State,  Sir  William  Cecil,  having  expressed 
himself  against  flogging,  Mr.  Peters*7  had  argued 
that  it  was  both  necessary  and  useful  :  '  the  rod 
was  the  sword  of  justice  of  the  school.'  '  Then,' 
writes  Ascham,  '  Mr.  Haddon  was  fullie  of  Mr. 
Peters'  opinion  and  said  "  That  the  best  schole 
master  of  our  time  was  the  greatest  beater,"  and 
named  the  person.  "  Though,"  quoth  I,  "  it 
was  his  good  fortune  to  send  from  his  schole 
unto  the  university  one  of  the  best  scholers  in- 
deede  of  our  time,  yet  wise  men  do  thincke  that 
that  came  so  to  pass,  rather  by  the  great  toward- 
nesse  of  the  scholer  than  by  the  great  beating  of 
the  master  ;  and  whether  this  be  true  or  no,  you 
yourselfe  arc  best  witness." '  This  '  best  schole- 
master '  and  '  greatest  beater '  is  commonly  said 
to  be  Udal.  But  it  is  quite  clear  that  Ascham 
was  referring  to  Haddon  himself,  who  was  solely 
Cox's  pupil.  If  Haddon  had  meant  Udal,  who 
•was  then  dead,  Ascham  would  not  have  hesitated 
to  give  his  name  ;  but  Cox  was  still  alive  and  a 
bishop,  and  therefore  for  obvious  reasons  the 
name  was  suppressed.  The  mistaken  reference 
to  Udal  was  originally  made  by  James  Bennett, 
*  master  of  the  Boarding-School  at  Hoddesdon  in 
Hertfordshire,'  in  his  edition  of  Ascham's  Works 
in  1 761,**  and  has  been  blindly  repeated  ever 
since.  Udal,  as  will  be  seen,  was  no  sparer  of 
the  rod.  But  Cox  must  have  the  credit,  or 
otherwise,  of  being  reputed  by  an  old  pupil  the 
best  schoolmaster  and  greatest  beater  of  his  age. 

It  is  a  grievous  pity  that  Cox  did  not,  as  his 
Elizabethan  successor  Malim  did,  give  a  time- 
table of  the  year  as  well  as  the  week,  an  account 
of  the  feasts  and  holidays  as  well  as  the  work. 
In  Malim's  time  many  of  the  feasts,  and  the 
customs  connected  with  them,  which  in  Cox's 
time  before  the  Reformation  were  still  fresh,  are 
recorded  as  obsolete  or  obsolescent.  The  net 
result  was  that  hard  as  the  whole-school-days 
•were,  each  a  ten-hours'  day,  there  were  only  five 
or  indeed  four  of  them  a  week  ;  and  there  were 
so  many  feasts  that  hardly  a  week  could  have 
passed  without  at  least  one  whole  or  half  holiday. 
For  every  greater  feast  day  was  a  whole  holiday, 
and  on  every  eve  of  the '  greater  doubles,'  feast 

*  Haddon,  scholar  of  Eton,  fellow  of  King's,  after 
being  master  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  and  presi- 
dent of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  was  now  a  master 
of  the  Court  of  Requests  and  Dean  of  Arches. 

"  Peters  or  Pctre  was  a  Secretary  of  State  under 
Edward  and  Elizabeth. 

"  Thi  Eng/.  H'orki  of  Rogtr  Aicham  (Lond.  R.  and 
J.  Dodsley,  1761),  141  n. 


days  on  which  double  rations  were  enjoyed,  there 
was  a  partial  holiday,  no  work  being  done  after 
dinner  at  1 1  a.m.  Most  of  the  greater  doubles  were 
the  same  everywhere,  but  certain  of  them  varied 
with  the  diocese,  the  local  saints  enjoying  special 
days.  The  greater  doubles  at  Eton  were  I  Janu- 
ary, the  Circumcision  ;  6  January,  the  Epiphany  ; 
2  February,  the  Purification  of  the  Virgin  ;  25 
March,  the  Annunciation  ;  then  came  Easter, 
Whitsuntide,  Corpus  Christ!  Day,  i.e.  Thursday 
after  Whitsuntide  ;  24  June,  Birth  of  St.  John 
Baptist;  29  June,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul;  I  August, 
St.  Peter  ad  Vincula  ;  1 5  August,  the  Assumption 
of  the  Virgin ;  8  September,  the  Nativity  of  the 
Virgin  ;  I  November,  All  Saints'  Day  ;  30  No- 
vember, St.  Andrew's  Day  ;  Christmas  Day,  and 
the  four  following  days,  the  last  being  the  day  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Martyr.  In  Lincoln  diocese 
there  was  also  St.  Hugh's  Day,  17  November; 
and  at  schools  St.  Nicholas's  Day,  the  boy-bishop's 
day.  Again,  Ash  Wednesday  was  given  up,  not  to 
lessons,  but  to  confession  to  the  fellows  or  con- 
ducts, each  boy  choosing  his  own  confessor.  On 
the  obit  of  William  Wayneflete,  13  January, 
every  boy  received  id. ;  on  7  February,  the  obit 
of  Provost  Bost,  there  was  a  half  holiday  ;  on 
27  February,  the  obit  of  Roger  Lupton,  every  boy 
received  id.  and  there  was  a  holiday  from  dinner- 
time (n  a.m.)  ;  and  on  26  May,  the  obit  of 
Henry  VI,  every  boy  had  zd.  In  Malim's  time 
apparently  only  one  memorial  day  of  Henry  VI 
was  observed,  but  previously,  as  at  Winchester 
for  Wykeham,  an  obit  was  kept  each  quarter. 
At  Easter  the  school  did  not  break  up,  though, 
to  judge  from  Winchester,  there  were  extensive 
exeats  for  those  who  could  go  home.  For  all 
there  was  a  ten-days'  holiday  (cessatum  a  put/ids 
itudiis)  from  Wednesday  in  '  Holy  Week,'  which, 
in  Malim's  account,  means  the  week  in  which 
Good  Friday  falls,  to  the  Monday  after  Easter, 
except  that  on  '  work  days '  they  had  writing 
lessons  beginning  on  Wednesday.  Maundy 
Thursday  was  a  holiday.  Those  who  commu- 
nicated sat  at  table  by  themselves,  had  a  better 
dinner,  and  leave  out  afterwards  to  wander  over 
the  fields,  only  they  were  not  to  go  into  taverns 
or  beer  shops.  On  Good  Friday,  in  Malim's 
day,  there  was  a  writing  lesson  before  9  a.m.  and 
a  sermon  from  the  head  master  at  I  p.m.  But 
these  were  post-Reformation  observances.  On 
Saturday  before  Easter  Malim  records  that  '  while 
the  custom  flourished '  of  the  Easter  Sepulchre, 
three  or  four  of  the  eldest  boys  chosen  by  the 
master  at  the  request  of  the  sacrist  watched 
round  the  sepulchre  with  wax  lights  and  torches, 
'  lest  the  Jews  should  steal  the  Lord,'  or,  as  he 
adds  with  a  sceptical  Protestant  touch,  '  more 
probably  to  prevent  any  damage  from  negligence 
in  looking  after  the  lights.'  On  May  Day, 
St.  Philip  and  St.  James,  those  who  wished  got 
up  at  4  a.m.  to  gather  boughs  of  may  ;  but  with 
a  curiously  grandmotherly  care,  which  shows  a 


181 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


very  different  spirit  from  that  commonly  imputed 
to  ourscholastic  ancestors,  the  licence  was  coupled 
with  the  proviso  '  that  they  do  not  wet  their  feet.' 
The  windows  of  Long  Chamber  were  then  hung 
with  may  and  herbs.  In  writing  verses  at  this 
time  they  might  write  English  ones  on  'the 
flowery  sweetness  of  Spring  time,'  as  long  as  they 
included  something  adapted  from  Virgil,  Ovid, 
or  Horace.  '  St.  John  Lateran  before  the  Latin 
gate,'  6  May,  *  brings  many  advantages,  for  from 
now  after  dinner  they  had  a  siesta  in  school, 
until  the  prepostor  of  hall  and  the  ostiarius "  call 
out  "  Get  up "  (Surgite)  at  3  p.m.,  when  they 
have  beavers  or  bever,'  an  interval  for  drinking 
beer,  the  equivalent  of  the  modern  afternoon  tea. 
Malim  recalls  the  line  :  '  Porta  Latina  pilam, 
pulvinar,  pocula  prestat,'  i.e.  '  St.  John  Lateran's 
day  brings  the  cricket  ball,  the  couch,  the  drink.' 
Ascension  Day  began  the  summer  holidays, 
which  lasted  till  the  day  before  Corpus  Christi 
Day,  the  Thursday  after  Trinity  Sunday,  anyone 
not  present  at  evening  chapel  on  that  day  being 
flogged.  On  St.  John  the  Baptist's  birthday, 
i.e.  Midsummer  Day,  Malim  records  as  extinct 
the  custom,  which  flourished  no  doubt  under  Cox, 
for  all  the  scholars  to  go  after  evening  prayers  to 
a  bonfire,  made  in  the  open  space  at  the  east  end 
of  chapel,  and  then,  after  the  choir  had  sung 
their  anthems,  to  a  bever.  On  the  eve  of  that 
day  the  boys  adorned  their  chambers  with  pic- 
tures and  verses  on  the  '  life  and  gests  of  the 
Forerunner,'  which  they  wrote  out  with  illumi- 
nations and  stuck  at  the  foot  of  their  beds.  As 
it  was  nearly  nine  before  they  went  to  bed,  they 
were  allowed  to  lie  in  bed  till  six  on  the  feast 
itself  instead  of  getting  up  at  five.  The  same 
custom  was  observed  on  29  June,  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul.  Thecustom  of  the  Eton  and  Winchester 
match  being  always  held  on  one  of  those  two 
feast  days  is  perhaps  ultimately  due  to  this  cus- 
tom. On  7  July,  the  Translation  of  St.  Thomas 
(Becket),  there  was  also  a  bonfire,  but  no  verses. 
The  Feast  of  Relics  in  July  was  another  whole 
play  day.  Election  time  began  then,  and  there 
was  a  holiday  if  the  provost  or  one  of  the  posers 
sent  his  hood  into  hall.  On  29  August  the 
after-dinner  siesta,  and  merenda  or  bevers,  ceased. 
The  Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  8  September,  was  a 
great  feast,  on  which  day  Long  Chamber  was 
swept.  On  a  day  in  September,  fixed  by  the 
master,  on  petition  from  the  boys  in  Latin  verses 
on  the  joys  of  harvest  and  the  pains  of  the  hard 
winter  coming,  the  school  went  a-nutting,  and 
presents  of  the  spoil  were  given  to  the  master  and 
fellows.  On  All  Souls  Day  (2  November)  they 
still  in  Malim's  time  said  prayers  in  memory  of 
benefactors,  and  made  vulguses  (vulgaria)  on 

99  '  Censor  Aulae  et  Anagnostes.'  I  give  the  Win- 
chester translation  of '  Anagnostes.'  The  '  ostiarius ' 
was  the  prefect  '  in  course '  for  the  day,  who  sat  near 
the  door  to  supervise  the  going  in  and  out  of  school. 
Maxwell  Lyte  leaves  the  word  unexplained. 


immortality — substitutes  for  the  prolonged  ser- 
vices and  requiems  of  pre-Reformation  days. 
'  On  St.  Hugh  the  bishop's  day,'  says  Malim, 
'  there  used  at  Eton  to  be  an  election  of  a  bishop 
Nicholas  (episcopi  Nihilensis}™  but  the  custom  has 
fallen  into  abeyance.  Formerly  the  boy-bishop 
was  thought  a  noble  person,  and  at  his  election  a 
learned  and  laudable  exercise  was  celebrated  at 
Eton  to  give  strength  and  agility  to  their  wits.' 
At  Eton,  as  at  Winchester,  the  boy-bishop  was 
directed  by  the  statutes  to  perform  divine  service 
on  St.  Nicholas's  Day,  6  December,  and  not  on 
the  usual  day,  that  of  the  Holy  Innocents.  This 
was  probably  to  avoid  clashing  with  the  estab- 
lished boy-bishop  celebrations  of  the  choristers  of 
the  cathedral  and  of  St.  George's  respectively. 
At  Eton,  there  being  a  chantry  of  St.  Nicholas 
already  existing  before  the  college  was  founded, 
it  is  possible  that  the  day  was  already  in  vogue 
for  the  boy-bishop.  It  is  noteworthy  how  Eton, 
like  other  schools,  as  e.g.  the  Great  Grammar 
School  at  Lincoln,  had  turned  an  idle  mummery 
into  a  literary  exercise,  with  verses  in  honour  of 
the  boy-bishops,  St.  Hugh  and  St.  Nicholas, 
and  also  a  sermon,  much  after  the  style  of 
the  Terrae  filius  address  at  Oxford,  for  him  to 
preach.  Originally  mixed  up  with  the  boy- 
bishop  was  the  custom  that  on  St.  Andrew's  Day 
(30  November)  the  schoolmaster  used  to  choose 
the  best  and  most  appropriate  stage  plays,  i.e. 
plays  of  Terence  or  Plautus,  '  which  the  boys 
perform  sometimes  in  public  during  the  Christmas 
holidays,  not  without  the  elegance  of  the  games 
(sc.  of  Rome),  before  a  popular  audience.' 
'  Sometimes,'  Malim  adds,  '  the  master  exhibits  a 
story  written  in  English  (Anglice  itrmone  contex- 
tas  fabulas)  with  wit  and  humour.'  Apparently 
in  Malim's  day  the  practice  was  already  being 
attacked  by  Puritans,  as  he  thought  it  necessary 
to  put  in  the  defence  that  '  The  actor's  art  is 
one  of  no  moment,  but  it  cultivates,  as  nothing 
else  can,  the  action  and  appropriate  gestures  and 
movements  of  the  body  necessary  to  orators.'' 
So  that  already  at  Eton  the  object  of  the  school 
had  been  developed  from  that  of  producing  priests 
and  parsons  into  that  of  educating  prospective 
preachers,  lawyers,  and  statesmen. 

As  we  saw,  plays  were  performed  at  Eton  by 
or  under  Cox.  In  1533  he  wrote101  a  copy  of 
Latin  verses  for  the  coronation  of  Anne  Boleyn.. 
They  do  credit  to  his  Latinity,  but  not  to  his 
poetical  faculty,  being  a  string  of  dreary  plati- 
tudes and  fulsome  compliments  on  her  beauty, 
modesty,  ability,  and  the  like.  In  spite  of  his 
successful  career  after  leaving  Eton,  ending  as  it 
did  in  a  bishopric,  Cox  is  now  forgotten,  while 
his  successor,  less  successful  in  the  world, 
Nicholas  Udal,  has  become  a  name  of  fame  in  all 
the  classrooms,  as '  the  father  of  English  comedy,* 


182 


100  See  supra,  p.  164. 
I01Harl.  MS.  6148,  fol.  117. 


SCHOOLS 


in  his  play  Roister  Dottier,  which  has  been 
claimed  as  an  Eton  product.  Unfortunately 
nearly  every  date  connected  with  Udal's  career 
has  been  wrongly  given,  and  many  wrong  in- 
ferences have  been  consequently  drawn.  His 
name  itself  is  a  notable  example  of  the  vagaries 
of  phonetic  spelling.  It  was  really  Uvedale, 
Latinized  by  himself  into  Udallus,  and  then 
adopted  by  him  in  English  as  Udal.  But  being 
apparently  pronounced  Oovedale  or  Oodal  it 
occurs  as  Woodal,  Wodall,  and  in  all  the  other 
possible  variants  of  that  form.  He  was  one  of 
the  Uvedales  of  Hampshire,  the  family  which 
became,  by  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  the 
Scures  in  the  latter  part  of  the  I4th  century, 
Lords  of  Wickham.  He  was  admitted  scholar 
of  Winchester  in  I5I7,10*  and  of  Corpus  Christ!, 
Oxford,  in  June  I52O,101  under  the  name  of 
Owdall.  Anthony  Wood  asserted,  and  all  other 
writers  have  followed  him,  that  he  went  to  Corpus 
at  the  age  of  fourteen.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
was  at  least  sixteen  and  a  half  at  the  time.  The 
boy  undergraduate  is  a  somewhat  mythical  being. 
He  was  paid,  as  Wodall,  as  a  lecturer  at  Corpus 
in  1526-8.  With  the  famous  antiquary,  Leland, 
he  produced  '  dites  and  interludes ' 103*  to  be  per- 
formed in  London  on  the  occasion  of  Anne 
Boleyn's  coronation,  31  May  1533.  Leland's 
contributions  are  all  in  Latin  ;  Udal's,  which 
form  the  chief  part,  arc  mostly  in  English,  the 
speeches  being  each  spoken  by  a  'child,'  'at 
Cornhill  beside  Leadenhall,'  '  at  the  Conducte  in 
Cornhill,'  and  '  at  the  little  Conducte  in  Cheepe.' 
Both  the  Latin  and  the  English  compositions  are 
very  much  superior  to  Cox's  effusion  on  the  same 
occasion.  It  is  very  probably  owing  to  the 
success  of  these  verses  that  at  Midsummer  1534 
he  became  head  master  of  Eton.  In  February 
1533—4.  he  published  Floures  for  Latine  Spekynge, 
selected  and  gathered  out  of  Terence  and  the  same 
translated  into  Englysshe.  Its  colophon  is  Londoni 
in  aedibui  Bertheleti  mdxxxiii,  but  the  dedication 
*  to  my  most  sweet  flock  of  pupils '  is  dated  IM 
28  February  1533-4, 'from  the  monastery  of 
the  monks  of  the  order  of  Augustine.'  This  is 
an  ambiguous  description  ;  there  were  no  monks 
of  that  order,  and  whether  Austin  friars  or 
Augustinian  canons  were  meant  is  open  to  doubt. 
The  book  was  published  with  laudatory  Latin 
verses  by  John  Leland,  the  antiquary,  who  was 
then  resident  in  London,  and  by  Edmund 

'"  Kirby,  Winch.  Scholars,  is  misleading.  The  original 
entry  runs,  'Nicholaui  Owdall  de  Sowthampton  in 
parochia  Sancte  Crucis,  xij  annorum  in  fcsto  Nativitatis 
Domini  preterito,'  i.e.  Christmas  1516.  His  name 
luggests  that  he  was  born  on  6  Dec.,  Bishop  Nicholas's 
Day. 

fa  Fowler,  Hist.  C.C.C.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.). 

'"•  B.M.  1 8  A,  Ixiv. 

IM  '  Nicholas  Udal  suavissimo  discipulorum  gregi 
...  ex  coenobio  monachorum  ordinis  Augustini 
pridie  Kalendas  Martias,  post  Natale  Domini,  1534.' 


Jonson.  Now  the  latter  was  a  Winchester  and 
Oxford  contemporary  of  Udal's,  a  scholar  of 
Winchester  1514  and  of  New  College  1520. 
From  1528,  and  perhaps  a  year  earlier,  he  was 
Hoitiarius  at  Eton,  a  post  which  he  left  to  be- 
come master  of  the  school  of  St.  Anthony's 
Hospital,  then  the  most  famous  and  flourishing 
school  in  London.  Established,  as  we  saw,  at 
the  same  time  and  by  the  same  Wykehamists 
who  established  Eton,  the  master's  salary  was 
£16  a  year,  with  the  same  '  diet'  or  commons, 
livery,  and  other  advantages  as  had  been 
originally  assigned  to  the  master  of  Eton,  before 
the  reduction  consequent  on  partial  disendow- 
ment.  So  that  St.  Anthony's  was  probably  the 
best  scholastic  appointment  in  the  kingdom. 
Now  St.  Anthony's  Hospital  and  School  were  in 
Threadncedle  Street,  close  to  Austin  Friars.  So 
it  is  highly  probable  that  Udal  was  usher  in  St. 
Anthony's  School  under  Jonson,  who  was  two  or 
three  years  his  senior,  and  was  living  next  door 
to  the  school  in  Austin  Friars.  At  all  events  it 
is  quite  clear  that  the  flock  of  pupils  to  whom 
the  book  was  dedicated  were  not  Eton  scholars, 
as  Udal  was  not  then  master  of  Eton.  The  sugges- 
tion in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  that 
the  book  was  dedicated  to  Eton  boys  in  advance  is 
unlikely,  as  in  those  days  they  seem  never  to  have 
got  their  masters  till  the  place  was  vacant  or 
on  the  verge  of  vacancy.  The  audit  book  for 
25  &  26  Henry  VIII,  i.e.  Michaelmas  1533  to 
Michaelmas  1534,  contains  the  earliest  record  of 
Mr.  Nicholas  Woddal,  as  he  is  called,  being  paid 
as  Informator  for  the  last  quarter  of  that  year, 
viz.  from  Midsummer  to  Michaelmas  1534.  In 
later  years  he  is  called  Informator  puerorum  ('  of 
the  children')  or  ludi  grammaticalis  or  schole 
grammaticalis  ('  of  the  grammar  school  *).  It  is 
not  until  1537-8  that  he  appears  as  Udal. 
Besides  his  salary  of  j£io  and  £i  for  livery, 
Udal  enjoyed  the  petty  receipts  (minutis)  of 
8;.  4</.  for  otiti,  2s.  8d.  for  laundress,  2s.  for 
candles  for  his  chamber,  and  23;.  ^d.  '  for  ink, 
candles  and  other  things  given  to  the  grammar 
school  by  Dr.  Lupton,  provost,'  whose  obitt  as  we 
have  seen,10*  was  already  celebrated  on  1 1 
January.  The  boy-bishop  celebration  was  duly 
kept,  2s.  being  given  to  the  man  who  brought 
venison  (ferinam)  to  the  provost  on  St.  Nicholas's 
feast  (6  December)  and  \d.  being  paid  for 
'  a  skin  of  parchment  to  write  the  names  of  the 
officers  of  the  bishop  on  the  feast  of  St.  Hugh,' 
1 7  November,  i.e.  of  St.  Hugh  of  Lincoln,  the 
boy  martyr,  on  whose  day,  as  the  school  was  in 
Lincoln  diocese,  instead  of  on  6  December,  the 
boy-bishop  seems  to  have  been  elected.  At 
Christmas,  too,  there  was  a  payment  of  1 2s.  for 
a  boar  and  of  2s.  8d.  '  for  making  the  boar's 
head.'  There  was  a  play,  31.  being  paid  for  the 
repair  of  the  dresses  of  the  players  at  Christmas, 


See  tufra,  p.  173. 


183 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


and  is.  4.d,  to  a  servant  of  the  Dean  of  Windsor 
for  bringing  his  master's  clothes  for  the  players. 
The  payment  for  repair  of  the  players'  dresses 
recurs  every  year  at  this  time,  except  in  1536- 
This  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  boys  being 
away  at  '  Heggeley  '  (?  Hedgerley),  probably  on 
account  of  the  plague  at  Eton  ;  for  6d.  was  paid 
for  a  hogshead — and  gd.  for  the  bringing  of  it — 
'to  carry  drink  to  the  boys  at  Heggeley,'  while 
payments  were  made  to  Spensar,  the  costs  for 
cleaning  the  boys'  inn  (hospitium)  there,  and  2s. 
for  keys  and  locks  for  the  doors,  and  2s.  6d.  was 
paid  for  bringing  them,  or  some  of  them,  to  the 
college  on  election  day.  The  same  year  cakes 
and  ale  (caakys  et  al)  were  provided  for  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  and  the  queen,  Jane  Seymour,  paid 
a  visit  to  the  college,  when  not  only  were  '  flyne 
cakes'  provided,  but  sherry  (secke)  and  claret 
(clarett)  at  is.  ^d.  a  gallon  each,  and  apples  and 
pears  to  the  extent  of  2s.  2d.  The  king  came 
on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  (24  August),  but 
seems  to  have  preferred  beer  with  his  '  caks.' 
Udal  has  been  credited  with  producing  a  play  at 
Braintree  while  vicar  there,  recorded  in  the 
churchwardens'  accounts  for  1534  as  a  play  of 
'  Placy  Dacy  alias  St.  Ewestacy  '  i.e.  '  Placidas 
alias  Sir  Eustace.'  But  Udal  did  not  become 
vicar  of  Braintree  till  27  September  1538.  On 
i  October  I538108  'Nicholas  Uvedale,  professor 
of  the  liberal  arts,  informator  and  schoolmaster  of 
Eton,'  was  licensed  to  hold  the  vicarage  of  Brain- 
tree,  '  with  other  benefices,'  without  personal 
residence.  So  it  is  not  very  probable  that  he  ever 
went  to  Braintree  or  produced  any  plays  there. 

In  1538,  however,  the  accounts  of  Thomas 
Cromwell,107  the  Lord  Privy  Seal,  include  a  pay- 
ment for  '  Woodall,  the  scholemaster  of  Eton, 
to  playing  before  my  lord,  £5.'  Presumably  he 
brought  a  troupe  of  boys  with  him.  In  that 
year  also  he  published  a  second  edition  of  his 
Flowers  of  Terence  for  Eton  boys. 

The  account  of  Thomas  Tusser  of  his  experi- 
ence at  the  hands  of  Udal,  though  oft  quoted,  is 
too  picturesque  not  to  be  quoted  once  more. 
Tusser  began  life  as  a  chorister  of  St.  Paul's. 

From  Powles  I  went  to  Aeton  sent, 

To  learn  straightwayes  the  Latin  phrase  ; 

Where  fifty  three  stripes  given  to  me  at  once  I  had  ; 

For  fault  but  small  or  none  at  all 

It  came  to  pass  thus  beat  I  was  ; 

See,  Udall,  see,  the  mercy  of  thee  to  mee,  poor  lad. 

If  Cox  was  a  greater  beater  than  this  he  must 
have  been  great  indeed.  Udal's  reign  of  the  rod 
at  Eton  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  conclusion  by 
his  being  brought  up  before  the  Privy  Council,108 
14  March  1540-1,  for  'being  of  counsel  with' 
two  of  the  boys,  Thomas  Cheney,  a  relation  of 
the  Lord  Treasurer  of  the  Household,  and 


106  Pat.  30  Hen.  VIII,  pt.  vi,  m.  17. 

107  L.  and  P.  Hen.  7111,  xiv  (2),  334. 

108  Pnc.  P.O.  viii,  152. 


Thomas  Hoorde,  for  stealing  some  silver  images 
and  chapel  ornaments.  He  then  confessed  to  a 
much  more  scandalous  offence  with  Cheney  and 
was  sent  to  the  Marshalsea  Prison.  He  tried, 
but  failed,  to  get  restored  to  Eton.  Attempts 
have  been  made  to  whitewash  him.  But  his 
own  confession,  and  an  abject  letter  of  repentance 
and  promises  of  amendment  addressed  probably 
to  Wriothesley,  a  Hampshire  man,  and  no  doubt 
a  family  friend,  cannot  be  got  over.  From  the 
letter  it  would  seem  that  he  was  a  bad  school- 
master as  well  as  an  immoral  one,  since  he  puts  for- 
ward amongst  other  things  'myn  honest  chaunge 
from  vice  to  vertue,  from  prodigalitee  to  frugall 
lyving,  from  negligence  of  teachyng  to  assiduitee, 
from  play  to  studie,  from  lightnes  to  gravitee.' 
Unfortunately  the  account  for  1541-2  is  missing. 
The  last  mention  of  Udal  at  Eton  is  in  1542—3, 
when,  after  the  bursar  had  ridden  up  to  London 
to  the  master  (i.e.  the  provost)  '  for  the  matter 
of  Udall,'  Udal  was  paid  '53*.  ifd.  in  full  satis- 
faction of  his  salary  in  arrears  and  other  things 
due  to  him  while  he  was  teaching  the  children '; 
but  as  on  the  other  side  of  the  account  appears 
an  item  of  '  6oj.  received  from  Dr.  Coxe  for 
Udall's  debts,'  it  would  not  appear  that  any 
money  passed  to  Udal.  He  maintained  himself 
by  translating  in  1 542  Erasmus's  Apophthegms  into 
English  and  divers  other  works.  He  seems  to 
have  been  made  to  resign  his  living  at  Braintree, 
a  successor  being  appointed  14  December  1544. 
He  purged  himself,  however,  by  composing  the 
Answer  to  the  articles  of  the  commoners  of  Devon- 
shire and  Cornwall  when  they  rose  in  rebellion, 
bloodily  put  down  by  the  first  lord  of  the  house 
of  Russell  in  the  summer  of  1549,  against  the 
First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  Udal,  as  an 
English  author,  evidently  wrote 1M  con  amore 
against  the  Cornishmen,  who,  because  '  certen  of 
us  understand  no  English,  .  .  .  utterly  refusid  this 
new  English,'  demanded  the  old  service  in  Latin, 
and  the  calling  in  of  the  Bible  and  all  other 
books  of  Scripture  in  English,  '  for  we  be  in- 
formed that  otherwise  the  clergy  shall  not  of  long 
time  confound  the  heretics.'  He  was  rewarded 
by  being  made  a  canon  of  Windsor,  14  December 
1551.  On  5  January '  after  the  common  reckoning 
1552  '  (i.e.  I55I-2),110  he  published  a  translation 
of  Erasmus's  Paraphrases  of  the  gospels,  himself 
translating  the  first  three,  while  St.  John  was 
being  translated  by  the  Princess  Mary,  till  she 
fell  sick  and  handed  her  work  over  to  Dr.  Malet. 
The  work  was  done  at  the  suggestion  and  ex- 
pense of  the  Dowager  Queen  Katharine,  in 
whose  charge  Mary  was,  and  the  connexion 
with  Mary  afterwards  stood  Udal  in  good  stead 

109  Pocock,    Troubles   of  the   Prayer  Book  of  1 549 
(Camden  Soc.  new  ser.  37),  141,  193. 

110  The  publication  of  the  second  volume,  done  by 
Miles  Coverdale,  in  June  1552,  shows  that  the  date, 
'after   the   common   reckoning    January    1552,'  was 
according  to  the  modern  use,  i.e.  1551—2  not  1552-3. 


184 


SCHOOLS 


In  June  and  September  1553  nl  '  Mr.  Nicholas 
Uvedale '  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  ^13  6s.  8d.  a 
year  as  '  scolemaster  to  Mr.  Edward  Courtney, 
beinge  within  the  Tower  of  London,  by  virtue 
of  the  Kings  Majesty's  Warrant.'  At  Queen 
Mary's  entry  into  London  he  produced  '  dities 
and  interludes'  for  which  he  received  her  thanks. 
It  was  probably  either  on  this  occasion  or  at  the 
Christmas  following  that  the  play  of  Roister 
Doisttr  was  produced.  For  it  was  in  January 

1553,  i.e.  1554,  that  Thomas  Wilson,  master 
of  St.  Katharine's  Hospital  by  the  Tower,  pro- 
duced the  third  edition  of  The  Rule  of  Reason, 
which  contains,  while  the  two  earlier  editions 
published  in  1551  and  1552  respectively  do  not 
contain,  a  long  quotation  from  Roister  Doister. 
It  gives  under  the  heading  of  '  ambiguitie,'  as 
'  an  example  of  such  doubtful  writing  whiche, 
by  reason  of  poincting,  maie  have  double  sense 
and  contrarie  meaning,'  the  letter  '  taken  out  of 
an   intrelude  made  by    Nicholas  Vdal,'    which 
Ralph  Roister  procured  a  scrivener  to  compose 
for  him,  asking  Christian  Custance,  the  heroine, 
to  marry  him.     Roister's  emissary  read  it 

Sweete  mistrcssc,  where  as  I  love  you  nothing  at  all, 
Regarding  your  substance  and  richnesse  chicfe  of  all, 

and  so  on  ;  whereas  it  was  meant  to  read 

Sweete  mistresse,  whereas  I  love  you,  (nothing  at  all 
Regarding  your  substance  and  richnesse,)  chicfe  of  all, 
For  your  personage,  beautie,  demeanour  and  wit. 

The  play  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  when 
printed-  in  1566,  and  only  one  copy  is  known, 
which  was  given  to  Eton  by  an  old  Etonian  in 
1 8 1 8.  As  the  title-page  is  pone  the  only  evi- 
dence of  its  authorship  is  Wilson's  quotation. 
Wilson  being  an  Etonian,  it  has  been  argued 
that  his  quotation  was  a  reminiscence  of  his 
Eton  days  and  that  the  play  was  written  for  and 
first  performed  by  Eton  boys.  But  the  occur- 
rence of  the  quotation  first  in  the  edition  of 

1554,  and  its  absence  in  the  previous  editions  of 
1551   and    1552,  coupled   with    the  facts  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  play  to  suggest  any  con- 
nexion   with    boys,    that    the  scene    is    laid    in 
London    and    among    London    citizens   and    is 
essentially  a  London    play — points    ignored  by 
Maxwell  Lyte  (1899  edition)  and  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography — appear  to  furnish  an  irre- 
sistible   argument     that    Roister     Doister    first 
appeared  in  1553,  and  therefore  could  not  have 
been  written  at  Eton  or  for  Eton  boys.     On 
6  March    1553-4  Udal  was  given  by  Gardiner, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  the  living  of  Calbourne  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight.    It  has  hitherto  been  alleged  lu 
that  in  1554  he  was  made  head  master  of  West- 
minster School,  which,  as  is  not  generally  known, 
was    founded    by    Henry    VIII  as   part  of   the 
foundation   of  the   cathedral   church   of  West- 

111  Trereljan  Paf>.  (Caraden  Soc.  84),  ii,  31,  33. 
'"  Cf.  Diet.  Nat.  Blag. 


minster,  on  the  dissolution  of  the  abbey  in  1 540 ; 
the  only  previous  school  in  connexion  with  the 
abbey  being  an  almonry  or  charity  school  in  the 
subalmonry  of  the  monastery  for  some  24  boys, 
which  began  with  some  two  or  three  about 
1356.  It  has  been  supposed  that  Udal  was 
the  last  master  of  the  Cathedral  Grammar  School, 
which  he  is  alleged  to  have  resigned  and  the 
school  to  have  been  suppressed  on  the  re-erection 
of  the  abbey  7  September,  and  the  return  of 
monks  to  it  21  November  1556.  It  is,  how- 
ever, now  certain  us*  that  Udal  was  not  master  in 
1554,  and  that  he  did  not  resign  but  died  in 
office,  and  that  the  school  was  not  suppressed 
in  1556.  In  the  will  of  Stephen  Gardiner, 
Bishop  of  Winchester  and  Lord  Chancellor, 
dated  8  November  I555,u*  there  is  a  bequest  of 
40  marks  (£28  13*.  4^.)  'to  Nicholas  Udale, my 
scolemaister ; '  which  is  sufficient  proof  that 
Udal  was  not  then  at  Westminster.  In  what 
sense  he  was  Gardiner's  schoolmaster  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  guess.  He  was  not  head  master  or  usher 
of  Winchester  College.  The  Winchester  Al- 
monry School,  which  corresponded  to  that  of 
Westminster,  came  to  an  end  with  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  monastery.  The  old  High  School, 
or  City  Grammar  School,  which,  under  the  im- 
mediate control  of  the  bishop,  existed  ages  before 
Winchester  College,  last  appeared  as  a  going 
concern  in  the  appointment  of  a  master,  who 
bore  the  same  name  as  the  present  dean,  in 
i488,11Sa  and  the  schoolhouse  was  let  in  1529-30 
at  5/.  a  year.  It  is  just  possible  that  Gardiner 
revived  it  and  appointed  Udal  master.  However 
that  may  be,  the  Act  Book  of  the  Westminster 
Chapter  established  by  Henry  VIII,  among  admis- 
sions of  petty  or  minor  canons,  scholars  and 
almsmen,  contains  the  following  entry  : — '  Scole- 
master. Mr.  Udale  was  admitted  to  be  scole- 
master 1 6  December  anno  1555.'  The  entry 
is  crossed  out  by  a  line  drawn  through  it,  prob- 
ably as  being  considered  out  of  place.  The  last 
chapter  order  is  dated  6  March  1555—6,  but 
leases  were  granted  as  late  as  24  September  1556. 
The  parish  register  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westmin- 
ster, contains  under  '  Burials  in  December  anno 
Domini  1556,'  '  1 1  die  Katerine  Woddall.'  '  23 
die  Nicholas  Yevedale."  Whether  Katherine 
was  Udal's  wife,  or  some  relation  or  not,  it  is 
certain  that  Nicholas  Yevedale  is  Nicholas  Uve- 
dale or  Udal.  For  in  the  one  and  only  extant 
account  of  the  cellarer  of  the  revived  monas- 
tery for  the  year  ending  Michaelmas  4  and  5 
Philip  and  Mary,  i.e.  1556,  under  'fees  and 

lu*  Mr.  G.  Russell  Barker,  who  has  for  »ome  year* 
been  accumulating  materials  for  the  history  of  West- 
minster School,  first  mentioned  this.  I  am  indebted 
to  the  dean,  the  Very  Rev.  J.  Armttagc  Robinson,  for 
references  and  recourse  to  the  abbey  muniments  which 
prove  it. 

111  P.C.C.  3  Noode*.     Proved  25  Jan.  1557. 

'"•  y.C.H.  Hanti,  ii,  256. 

185  24 


A    HISTORY    OF    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 


wages'  is  a  payment  of  '  cash  to  Thomas  Notte, 
usher  (hippodidasculo)  of  the  boys,  £6  I  Of.,  and 
to  the  scholars  called  grammar  children  (Sco/as- 
ticis  vocatis  le  Grammer  ckilderri},  of  £63  6s.  8d., 
showing  that  the  school  was  still  going  on,  but 
that  Udal's  place  as  head  master  had  not  been 
filled  up.  These  payments  are  for  half  a  year. 
But  next  year  there  were  a  master  and  usher  and 
the  full  tale  of  scholars. 

An  account  of  John  Moulton,  the  receiver- 
general  of  the  abbey,  of  payments  to  be  made 
for  the  last  year  of  Philip  and  Mary,  i.e. 
I557-8,114  shows  under  the  heading  of  'fees 
and  wages  granted  to  certain  persons  by  letters 
patent  of  the  monastery  for  life,'  to  John  Passey, 
schoolmaster  (pedagogi)  of  Westminster  yearly, 
£20,  and  Richard  Spencer,114  usher  (subpeda- 
gogi)  yearly,  ^15,  while  the  'master  of  the 
choristers'  received  jCiO.  Under  'wages  and 
salaries  without  letters  patent  continued  accord- 
ing to  the  form  of  the  foundation  and  erection 
established  by  Henry  VIII,'  is  the  payment  of 
'40  grammar  boys,  £133  (>s.  8d.,  and  10  chor- 
ister boys  singing  in  the  choir,  ,£33  6s.  8dS  i.e. 
£3  6s.  8d.  for  each  scholar  and  chorister.  This 
appears  to  be  conclusive  proof  that  Udal  had  a 
successor,  and  that  the  school  went  on  and  was 
only  re-enacted,  not  re-established,  by  Queen 
Elizabeth's  charter  refounding  the  collegiate 
church  on  21  May  1560.  No  doubt  there  were 
under  Udal  and  under  his  predecessors  town 
boys  as  well  as  the  40  scholars. 

Udal's  successor  as  head  master  of  Eton  was 
'  Tyndall,'  according  to  Maxwell  Lyte's  list. 
He  was  no  doubt  Henry  Tyndall,  M.A.  Oxford 
1516-17,  and  B.D.  5  June  1526.  A  fellow  of 
Merton,  his  stay  of  only  a  year  may  perhaps  be 
accounted  for  by  his  desire  to  return  to  Merton, 
of  which  he  was  elected  warden  in  1544. 
Smyth,  who  followed  in  1541,  was  probably 
Nicholas  Smyth,  a  Buckinghamshire  boy  from 
Fenny  Stratford,  scholar  of  Winchester  1536,  of 
New  College  1541,  B.A.  1545.  He  held  office 
with  first  Alphyn  or  Alphild  as  usher,  and  then 
John  Fuller,  who,  like  himself,  was  of  Winches- 
ter (1537)  and  New  College  (1540).  Smyth  re- 
turned to  New  College  in  1545.  He  became 
a  fellow  of  Eton  in  1554,  and  died  rector  of 
Petworth.  At  Lady  Day  1545  another  Wyke- 
hamist succeeded,  Robert  Cater,  a  Berkshire  boy 
from  Newbury,  scholar  of  Winchester  1526,  of 
New  College  1 5  3 1 ,  M.  A.  1 1  June  1 5  3  9.  He  was 
the  last  representative  of  the  mother  college  in  the 
capacity  of  head  master  of  Eton.  He  died  in 
office  i  January  1 546-7,  and  was  buried  in  Eton 
Chapel  with  an  inscription  which,  in  view  of  the 
false  quantity  in  the  second  line  and  the  bad 


114  Westm.  Abbey  Mun.  33194. 

II4a  He  was  probably  Richard  Spenser,  scholar  of 
Winchester,  1543,  and  of  New  College,  1549,  fellow 
1551-3  ;  Kirby,  Winchester  Scholars. 


scansion  of  the  third,116  we  may  hope  was 
either  not  written  by  him,  or  was  miscopied  by 
the  person  who  recorded  it.  William  Barker, 
who  filled  the  gap,  was  a  demy  and  then  fellow 
of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford.  He  was  master 
when  Eton  was